Hospital car parks are notoriously expensive, and you can quickly rack up a hefty fee for an extended stay. However, it’s far more unusual to rack up a four-figure ticket, and that’s precisely what happened to one woman in LA County.
According to a report by CBS, Cate Daniels visited Glendale Memorial Hospital on Friday. Daniels claims she stayed for 45 minutes, but the machine miscalculated the length of her stay, by about three years. The ticket machine ultimately demanded a fee of $7,829. Daniels also told the outlet that a parking warden accused her of leaving her vehicle on site for weeks.
Per ABC7, the machine handed the woman a receipt, suggesting her vehicle had been in the car park since July 2022. She told the outlet that the most upsetting part of the incident was how her complaint was not taken seriously.
The Ticket Machine Owner Has Since Apologized For The Hospital Lot Mix-Up
CBS reports that Parking Company of America has apologized to Daniels for the error. The company confirmed the charge should not have occurred, and Glendale Memorial Hospital has also issue an apology. The ticket machine owner has blamed the ridiculous parking charge on a computer glitch.
Parking Company of America is allegedly in the process of crediting the charge-back, and while Daniels is happy, she isn’t impressed at how much effort it took to fix the issue. She told CBS, “Two different people have said things like this happen in that lot. Makes me think I’m not the only one this has happened to.”
The company is reportedly preparing to remove the machine in light of the incident.
Computer errors can cause serious issues for people involved, and those problems can have far broader implications than just financial woes. Per Wide Open Country, Federal Agencies pronounced Gene Indenbaum deceased earlier this year. This came as a shock to the Smithtown man for two reasons. First, he was alive and well enough to read the letter declaring his passing. Secondly, he’s already dealt with this issue before.
The situation hit Indenbaum particularly hard, as he was forced to relieve the circumstances that declared him dead last year. His wife tragically passed away in 2022. Social Security mistakenly believed he died at the same time. The clerical error reportedly affected Indenbaum’s credit cards and insurance. He now worries this may become a yearly occurrence.