Shame on Whittington Health Services

What message would you take from this notice in the Hornsey Health Centre car park on Park Road?

I, like I'm sure many, people read

PATIENT PARKING ONLY

MAXIMUM STAY 2 HOURS

So, I thought, Good, I'm okay then. What I didn't see was

ALL PATIENTS MUST REGISTER THEIR FULL AND CORRECT VEHICLE
REGISTRATION VIA THE CONSOLE LOCATED IN THE HEALTH CENTRE
TO RECEIVE 2 HOURS PARKING

I can only think of one reason that the sign was designed in such a way so as to make the parking permission very visible, but the condition so much less likely to be noticed.

Failure to notice the condition results in an £85.00 fine.

One expects no better from Euro Car Parks, but I'd expect more from Whittington Health Services.  The local team must at the very least be aware of this issue and they have apparently taken no steps to rectify it.

I know for a fact that I'm not the only one to have been caught out. Coincidentally, just ten minutes after I went back to the car park to check the parking notices, the clinic rang me to arrange my next appointment. I mentioned the parking issue. The person commiserated and said she's just got off the phone with a very distraught lady who's also been caught out.

I have a rule of thumb with parking and traffic rules these days. Just follow the rules and NEVER try and bend them - or if you do accept that you may well have to pay the price. But when an operator has clearly gone to some effort to make sure the rules aren't clear, I call foul. 

Had it been a private company car park, I may have scrutinised the sign more carefully. But I guess my guard must have been down because it was a hospital.

Needless to say I'll be appealing the fine, but I'm also calling on the Whittington Health Trust to get these signs changed immediately, and to suspend all fines until the change has been made.