Nurses charged almost £200 a month just to park their cars at work

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Northerner

Northerner

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Nurses are being charged almost £200 a month just to park their cars at work.

NHS trusts are raking in up to £3.9million a year in parking fees from their own staff as well as *outpatients and visiting relatives, a Sunday Mirror investigation reveals.

And at one hospital more than HALF the penalty notices handed out were slapped on the cars of its own workers.

Nursing unions say hard-up members report rushing to finish shifts to avoid fines. Many workers have no choice but to drive because of shift times.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nurses-charged-200-month-just-3848184
 
That is terrible :(
 
It's very difficult when the hospital don't run the carpark, eg Uni Hospital Cov & Warwick. The only way they could get the dosh to build the place was by doing things like that.

Nightmare.
 
Hospital car park prices do tend to be extortionate. However, when daughter was in hospital having her appendix out we paid something like £20 for a 1-week pass, which meant we could park the car there all day every day if we wanted and not get charged through the nose (I stayed in the hospital but hubby was coming and going, sometimes when he was there I would nip out for a while). We probably would have paid more like £10 per day without that pass. There was also a 1-month pass available which wasn't much more. Can't other hospitals offer something like that?
 
If half of them peddled to work the car parks would be good for the people go because there ill ? If I thought it cost me £200 to park I would Walk, Get the bus, or get a taxi for that much 🙄
 
I have a friend who was a nurse that wanted to go back after her children, but because she had to start after the main shift in order to drop her children at school, the staff car park was always full and the main hospital public car park is about £2/hour or so.
 
Have you noticed people want to be right outside the front door ! That's the paper shop/Supermarket/pub/hosp & they wont walk that 400yds from outside ?
 
HOBIE said:
If half of them peddled to work the car parks would be good for the people go because there ill ? If I thought it cost me £200 to park I would Walk, Get the bus, or get a taxi for that much 🙄
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I'm a nurse, I live 8 miles away therefore not walking distance. I start work at 7.30, I have to be at work about 7.15 to give me time to get changed, that means travelling to work in the dark throughout the winter down some horrible roads therefore I wouldn't feel safe cycling. I do 13 hour shifts, therefore would be travelling home in the dark. A bus would take about 1.5 hours (including waiting to change buses) this is in London where the transport system is better than most places. A tube and a bus takes slightly less time but still looking at over an hour. This doesn't even take into account night shifts which are the same length with the same travelling time however with sleep deprivation every minute I get in bed counts!

The only way I can really get to work is by car. Thankfully my hospital owns it's parking and I'm only charged £20 / month for the permit. It's still £20 I'd rather not have to pay just to go to work though 😡
 
You all must get paid to much ! £200 a month ! You could park two streets away & get there 5mins earlier. People wont walk the ten steps to the paper shop. How if I said I would take £200 off your mortgage. Its the same !
 
HOBIE said:
You all must get paid to much ! £200 a month ! You could park two streets away & get there 5mins earlier. People wont walk the ten steps to the paper shop. How if I said I would take £200 off your mortgage. Its the same !
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No, I have to disagree with this. The hours nurses work and the state of public transport these days mean that they need to get to and from work safely. There is no sense in charging them so much to park :(
 
HOBIE said:
You all must get paid to much ! £200 a month ! You could park two streets away & get there 5mins earlier. People wont walk the ten steps to the paper shop. How if I said I would take £200 off your mortgage. Its the same !
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You obviously don't live in an area with rediculous parking restrictions and residents parking permits
 
HOBIE said:
...You could park two streets away & get there 5mins earlier...
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Not at the hospital near me they can't. The council double yellowed pretty much every street near the hospital or put parking permit only zones.

Considering my hospital is a good 5 miles out of the town, I don't see how they can justify charging even a single penny for the car park to visitors (let alone staff).

My local council has a policy that the number of allocated parking spaces can only be about 75% of the building employee count (or something similar). Which means that all the extras have to park in the local streets - something that is not popular with the people who own those houses.
 
If I knew I had to start work at a certain time & the other 200 nurses. I would find out who would Car share etc. The point of this is the £200 for parking the ----- Car. I work full time & I couldn't pay £200 a month. You can rent a nice property up here for £350 a month. You could get a scooter or similar. It is an fortune to park. The car doesn't need to be there. Life has changed know one wants to walk anymore.
 
HOBIE said:
If I knew I had to start work at a certain time & the other 200 nurses. I would find out who would Car share etc. The point of this is the £200 for parking the ----- Car. I work full time & I couldn't pay £200 a month. You can rent a nice property up here for £350 a month. You could get a scooter or similar. It is an fortune to park. The car doesn't need to be there. Life has changed know one wants to walk anymore.
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You couldn't rent a garage for that in London!
Car sharing sounds good in principle but it doesn't work with variable shift patterns, you would have to find someone that not only lives near you but also works the exact same shifts as you every month, unless you are a 9-5er then thats near impossible.

If I could walk I would.
 
I have worked in Oxford st, Bond st, for months with a van to park full of tools, I used to walk the full length of oxfprd st to park cheaper. I would not & could not pay £200 a month. £2400 a year. That's a bit. Have you seen those 3 wheel bikes where the two front wheels are less than a foot apart. You can drive on a car licence. Aprox £6000 new, 3yrs & paid for
 
HOBIE said:
I have worked in Oxford st, Bond st, for months with a van to park full of tools, I used to walk the full length of oxfprd st to park cheaper. I would not & could not pay £200 a month. £2400 a year. That's a bit. Have you seen those 3 wheel bikes where the two front wheels are less than a foot apart. You can drive on a car licence. Aprox £6000 new, 3yrs & paid for
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Hobie, you're a bloke, I think it's a whole different ballgame for a woman alone during unsocial hours :( I agree that the hospital ought to arrange carshare, or some sort of staff transport system for their key staff. Even if it was £50 a month it's a lot out of a nurse's wages :(
 
That's what I have been saying its stupid money to pay. I would find a way to beat the system. I would not & could not pay the £200 to park the ---- car. At my local hosp I have never paid the car park fees. I walk nearly 1mile every time. It must be the way I was brought up. If I couldn't walk yes you pay or you get a disabled bay ?
 
HOBIE said:
That's what I have been saying its stupid money to pay. I would find a way to beat the system. I would not & could not pay the £200 to park the ---- car. At my local hosp I have never paid the car park fees. I walk nearly 1mile every time. It must be the way I was brought up. If I couldn't walk yes you pay or you get a disabled bay ?
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I think we agree then. I have never parked a vehicle of any kind anywhere, apart from on driving lessons. Hospitals should not be charging employees huge sums for something that enables them to do their job. The point is that this sort of charge may actually be dissuading people from doing the jobs because it's simply not affordable and practical.
 
In Nottingham it's probably worse as they have additional charges.
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/wpl


It astonishes me the fees and charges people will submit to just to get to work with London always being the worst. People that can't afford to live in the capital are forced to pay massive commuter costs with annual rail cards running into many thousands of pounds.

Surely making sure the population can get to work and benefit from it should be high on the agenda for any government.

My first act when I take over the world will be all public transport fares for those going to work are eliminated and paid for from the tax they pay instead.
 
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Annual season ticket to London from my town is currently £4488 (works out at £374 per month, which is still cheaper than buying monthly season tickets, which are £431). This is no good for part time workers, who must pay the daily fare of £26 plus London Transport fares on top! 😱 and it's only a 31-35min journey from here to Euston! I commuted for several years, and was fortunate enough to have an employer who gave me a loan for my annual season ticket.

Nurses and other essential services who are obliged to work early or late shifts should be entitled to free and safe parking.
 
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