THE private company which issued parking penalties to more than 4,000 hospital visitors and patients has agreed to give some drivers their money back.

Refunds are now being offered to patients and visitors who received debt collection letters over unpaid parking charges at Halton Hospital.

Angry motorists had called for Highview Parking Limited, the company which manages car parks at Halton and Warrington Hospitals, to be sacked after thousands of drivers received penalty notices.

A series of errors and failings forced Highview to submit a retrospective planning application for its new automatic licence plate recognition cameras around the hospital and stop sending out debt collection letters.

The company has now agreed to offer some refunds and improve signage.

It follows a meeting between Halton Trading Standards, the hospital trust and the private car parking company.

Halton Cllr Dave Cargill, board member for Trading Standards, said: "I welcome the efforts of Halton Council's Trading Standards officers and look forward to a satisfactory conclusion of some mutual benefit."

On the advice of Halton Trading Standards, Highview Parking Ltd is working on improved signage that is more user-friendly and a revised version of some of their letters.

Due to a technical problem with the wording of the letter, the company has decided to offer a refund to anyone who parked at Halton or Warrington Hospital and paid as a result of receiving their third letter asking for £115 dated between May 1, 2015 and July 7, 2015.

The company is also offering to refund anyone who paid as a result of receiving a debt recovery letter asking for £149.99, again because of a technical problem with the wording of that letter.

Requests for a refund need to be in writing and should be submitted by September 30, 2015.

To claim a refund write to: Appeals Department, Ref: Halton Hospital refund, PO Box 3573, Barnet, EN5 9QA.

The company has vowed to prioritise these claims and says refunds should be provided within 10 working days of the request being noted.

The company has also pledged to cancel any notices where they have issued the third letter or the debt recovery letter but says they will continue to pursue all other notices.

When drivers use a privately managed car park they enter into a contract with the company to abide by its terms and conditions.

The company can hold motorists in breach of contract if they fail to pay, over stay or park where they shouldn’t.

The terms and conditions that they rely on should be clearly displayed so that drivers know what they are agreeing to.

Provided the signs are clear and can be seen by users, the company can issue charge notices to drivers who breach those terms.

Halton Council’s Principal Trading Standards Officer, Deana Perchard, said: "If you live in Halton and have received a charge notice for any privately managed car park but don’t think you should have to pay it because there were no signs, the signs were not clear or you did pay for parking (even if you haven’t got a receipt) then contact us for advice by calling the Citizens Advice consumer helpline (03454 04 05 06) and ask for your details to be referred through to us."

Warrington and Halton Hospitals has welcomed work between Halton Trading Standards and Highview Parking that is leading to improved car park signage and letters for people who have received parking further demands after not responding to initial parking charge notices.

Steve McGuirk, chairman of Warrington and Halton Hospitals, said: “We are committed to working with Highview Parking through our parking company Ranger Services to improve all aspects of the parking system at the hospitals.

“We had instructed Highview to temporarily curtail any debt collection from people who have not responded to initial parking charge notices and asked them to work directly with Halton Trading Standards to review signage and letters to ensure that the wording is clear and technically correct.

“We’re pleased that by working together they have identified some improvements to make signage clearer and some technical issues with debt recovery letters that are issued after no response has been provided to initial parking charge notices.

These changes will be implemented immediately and Trading Standards have given some useful clarification on parking and legal rights of the parking companies.

“We have listened to patient and visitor feedback and are looking at a number of improvements to the parking system including upgrading parking machines and the improved signage so the system is easier to use.”

The new machines currently under review will automatically identify number plates so as the visitor enters the digits it brings up their plate as a car currently on site, eliminating accidental incorrect entries.