A nurse has spoken out after receiving a £70 fine for parking in the staff car park at the hospital where she works after being called in to help at short notice.
She was called into the Royal Oldham Hospital unexpectedly to assist on busy wards and claims that many of her colleagues have also been fined after their applications for parking permits were denied. Parking permits were reintroduced just before Christmas, following a period where they were not required due to the pandemic.
However, the nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, says the process to get a permit is lengthy and complicated. "To receive a permit you have to answer a series of questions on a form and someone will then decide whether or not you're worthy of a parking permit," she explained.
She added that if a permit is not granted, staff are advised to use public transport or car share, which isn't always feasible. She said: "If you're not, you are advised to use public transport or car share, which is not appropriate particularly if people are working night shifts or if they can't synchronise their working patterns with colleagues. Sometimes it can take two or three buses for staff to get to work from where they live, so they need to be able to park."
The nurse also revealed that obtaining a car park pass would cost her more than £500 from her salary. "That would give me the right to park at the hospital during my shifts for free," she added. "But then there's the problem of finding a space. I was called into work because they were short-staffed." she said. "I parked in the staff car park and when I came out I had a parking ticket on my car. It was for £70, reduced to £35 if I paid it within two weeks."
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She appealed against the fine, but it was turned down. "They said, 'you need a permit'," she explained. "But they're not issuing me with a permit, even though I've applied. So I'm between a rock and a hard place. There's no on-street parking around the hospital because of the (Oldham Athletic) football ground. If I park on the stadium car park, it's £5 a day. I think they close at 6pm and our 12-hour shifts don't end until 8pm or 9pm." she added.
The nurse, who has a family, continued: "All nurses who haven't been issued with a permit are affected by this. When you apply for a permit they ask you things like, 'have you any caring responsibilities?' and about your mobility and your physical health which I don't think is anyone else's business."
The nurse was called in at short notice to help (Manchester Evening News)"We just want to go to work without fear of being fined." The nurse has asked her union, UNISON, and Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams to fight her corner. The car parks at the hospital are run on behalf of the Northern Care Alliance (NCA) for the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Andrew Montgomery from the NCA said: "The introduction of a staff parking permit system helps us manage demand and ensure spaces are allocated on a fair basis. It also applies more consistent criteria for access to parking permits for our colleagues based on their working requirements, rather than the job they hold."
"Car parking permits are only required during daytime busy periods, so any colleagues working outside of these hours do not require a permit and are not charged to park in our staff car parks. All appeals for permit applications that were received in the first phase have been processed."
"We are now processing applications in the second phase based on where we have capacity left across our car parks or when existing permit holders leave the Trust. These applications are being processed in date order. We appreciate how frustrating it can be for those colleagues who have not been issued with a permit and we have been offering support and advice around alternative ways to travel to work, including car sharing and public transport.
"We also offer flexible working options enabling some colleagues to work from home, where appropriate, which is freeing up parking spaces for those who need to be on site. Our hospital sites are incredibly busy and we have reintroduced parking charge notices (PCN) for those vehicles that are not parked in a marked bay or causing an obstruction and those that do not have a valid staff permit on display."
A disabled NHS worker has advised his colleagues: "If you get fined for parking while you're working, don't pay it." He added, "I keep refusing to pay mine, and telling them 'take me to court' so I can expose what a scandal this is. It's just a way of health trusts squeezing as much money as they can out of low-paid workers."
"I keep telling UNISON they should launch a national campaign about this, but so far they've done very little. The parking companies send out these legal-looking letters trying to scare people into paying, but my advice is 'don't' because they won't take you to court for fear of being exposed as heartless."
The issue of nurses' car parking has been a hot topic across the country. A few weeks ago, a nurse was hit with a £205 legal bill after she forgot to display her monthly parking pass at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. Sandra Barrass received the fine but did not pay it, hoping that the car park operator would cancel the penalty after seeing she had a valid permit. But she was issued with the bill.
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"Nurses and doctors are totally fed up to the back teeth," she told BirminghamLive. "They're making an astronomical amount of money off the back of patients, doctors and nurses."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to webhomepage@mirror.co.uk
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