Sheffield funeral director gets parking fine while picking up six-year-old girl’s body from hospital

Michael Fogg parked his private ambulance outside Sheffield Children’s Hospital on Friday, October 4, to pick up a girl’s body following her death.

Ealier today, Mr Fogg received a letter in the post informing him that he had been fined £60 for parking unlawfully.

In the letter, Civil Enforcement Ltd said that this would rise to £100 if the fine was not paid within 14 days.

Mr Fogg took to Facebook to complain about the fine, saying the company knew ‘exactly what they were there for’.

He wrote: “Today we have received this parking fine from the company who is in charge of parking at the children's hospital in Sheffield“This is our private ambulance. We were attending the hospital to bring a child into our care.

“I will gladly pay the fine providing every penny is spent on the children and not a private company who “know exactly what we were there for.

“To charge a funeral director who is simply bringing a child into care is just totally disgusting.”

On its website, Sheffield Children’s Hopsital said it uses Civil Enforcement Ltd for the administration of all its Parking Charge notices and that motorists can appeal these fines.

However, after Mr Fogg’s post was brought to their attention, the hospital said they contacted the company to ‘immediately cancel’ the fine.

A hospital spokesperson said: “As soon as this was brought to our attention, we contacted the company that handles our car parking and the fine was immediately cancelled.

“The fines are automatically generated, but can be prevented by letting us know on the day in circumstances like this.

“Alternatively fines can be appealed, and in legitimate cases like this we will ensure no fine is paid. We will be reviewing our processes to avoid a similar situation in future.”

Mr Fogg, who does not charge families who have lost children under the age of 16 for funeral services, said that the fine should never have been issued in the first instance.

He said: “You can quite clearly see on the picture that the van says ‘private ambulance’. Someone will have seen that and still decided to print it out.

“We are not there to park and then go shopping. We are there to bring a six-year-old girl into our care who has just passed away.

“We don’t profit out of a child passing away so why should anyone else?

“It’s not a lot of money but if this is not highlighted then this could go on and on and on.

“If by me posting this and bringing it to people’s attention it makes the company think twice then it might save someone unnecessary stress at a difficult time.”