By FREYA BARNES, NEWS REPORTER
A pensioner has been hit with £240 in fines for parking at a hospital to take his terminally-ill wife for treatment - despite having a blue badge.
Roy Sanders, 73, was wrongly slapped with £240 worth of penalty notices after taking his wife Judy, 70, to appointments at Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley West Midlands.
The retired police officer has since been locked in an ongoing battle with a parking firm to get the fines overturned alongside dealing with his wife's terminal diagnosis.
Mr Sanders first registered their car with the Nexus Group online after the hospital car park implemented automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) software as part of parking changes last year.
Blue badge holders are still entitled to free parking and Mr Sanders said he 'followed all the steps' to register online in June 2025.
He said he even scanned the blue badge in the car park to confirm it had been set up and the machine confirmed 'no fee would be required'.
However, after a hospital appointment on November 22, Mr Sanders was hit with an £80 fine in the post for allegedly leaving the hospital car park without paying.
He successfully appealed this fine, after sending Nexus a copy of the blue badge, but was left confused as more fines kept coming through.
Roy Sanders (pictured), 73, was wrongly slapped with £240 worth of penalty notices after taking his wife Judy, 70, to appointments at Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley West Midlands
Mr Sanders first registered their car with the Nexus Group online after the hospital car park implemented automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) software as part of parking changes last year (Pictured: Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, West Midlands)
Mr Sanders, of Wall Heath, West Midlands, said he became stuck in a 'robotic circle of incompetence' following the error, which he said has also affected a 'phenomenal amount' of other patients.
He said: 'I'm really angry about it. One time, you can understand that it could just be an error.
'But we received three fines, all in the same car, all with the same blue badge.
'Every time I appealed, submitted the same details, won my appeal and was told to register the Blue Badge, but I already had!
'It was like I was stuck in a robotic circle of incompetence.
'I have appealed the tickets every time and I'm waiting for a fourth to land on my door mat.'
Nexus have said the fines were sent to the couple because the car registration linked to the Blue Badge was incorrect by one character.
However, Mr Sanders is adamant he entered the details correctly when registering for free parking and questioned why, if it was incorrect from the first fine, it would have taken over a month to be flagged up.
Mr Sanders received a total of three £80 fines from hospital visits on November 22, December 9 and December 15, all of which have now been successfully appealed.
Although he has not lost out financially, Mr Sanders believes a more vulnerable people could be if faced with the same scenario.
He added: 'I phoned up two people - a number I thought was Nexus, but ended up being a connected company, and the complaints team at Russells Hall to try and get to the bottom of what was going on.
'Both people I spoke to were lovely, but mentioned they had received a lot of complaints regarding the car park.
'One person even used the word "phenomenal amount".
'Nexus was completely unapproachable and, if a more vulnerable person had received these, I believe they would have paid them out of fear - it's not nice to receive a fine in the post.
'I've got the skills to take them on, but I feel sorry for the vulnerable elderly people who haven't got online resources to query tickets. They will simply cave in and pay the fee.
'With their resources, I can't see why they can't check the number plates, especially if the same vehicle repeatedly triggers penalties.
'They are quick enough sending out £80 notices. The car registration number they had on my account did not in fact exist because I checked it online. It would only have taken a simple check for them to see that.
'They could have then contacted me to resolve it at an early stage.'
Mr Sanders (pictured) received a total of three £80 fines from hospital visits on November 22, December 9 and December 15, all of which have now been successfully appealed
After a hospital appointment on November 22, Mr Sanders was hit with an £80 fine in the post for allegedly leaving the hospital car park without paying
A spokesperson for Nexus said they agreed to cancel all three fines 'given the situation'.
They said: 'Having reviewed the Platform, it was clear that the incorrect VRM was set up on our system. It has now been updated.
'After the first PCN was appealed, we confirmed the process for registering online, as we could not see a permit for this Blue Badge.
'When it became apparent that the VRM was incorrect, we provided clear instructions to change it.'
Diane Wake, Chief Executive of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, said: 'We are aware of the parking issue for Mr Sanders, and we are pleased that the car park operators have cancelled the fines and recognised the error was an incorrect registration.
'We want all our patients and visitors to have the best experience when visiting us.
'Further information is on the Trust website explaining how to register vehicles with blue badges.
'There are also instructions at parking machines at the entrances.'