Abandoned vehicles to be cleared from car parks at PEH

The PEH has extensive parking, but the sheer number of staff, patients and visitors means the space is often under strain.

There are a handful of cars in each of the car parks which have invalid insurance discs, with some having been out of date for months.

One notable example is that of a blue Ford Fiesta that is parked near the entrance of the Emergency Department. It is covered in moss and rust, and its insurance disc is from 2021.

In the white zone car park at the rear of the hospital site, which is reserved for staff, some cars yesterday did not have a staff permit sticker or a valid insurance disc, or in some cases both.

There are also vehicles that do have a valid insurance disc, but look run-down and rusty, and appear to have been out of use and parked for a long while.

A States Property Unit spokeswoman said 16 cars were identified as abandoned at the PEH, taking up essential parking spaces for service users and staff.

She added that 10 of these have been removed after the owners were written to.

‘Despite repeated attempts to contact the owners of the remaining six, States Property Services will place a notice in the Gazette Officielle on Saturday 4 February,’ she said.

‘If the cars have not been removed 21 days after the Gazette notice, they will be removed and disposed of.

‘It is disappointing that the owners of these vehicles saw fit to abandon them on States property which has resulted in the taxpayer having to cover the cost of their removal.’

Under Guernsey law, anyone using, or even parking, a vehicle on a road, must have at least third-party insurance cover.

Guernsey Police has previously clarified that this includes areas where the public can have access, such as car parks, and a vehicle does not have to be driven to fall foul of the law.

The penalties for the offence are severe – including a mandatory minimum one-year driving ban.