NHS Trust allowing harassment of staff via parking charges
Discussion
I have huge issue with this, as it has been going on for years at the hospital my wife works at, and it is going on at many other trusts as well. She has fought and successfully defended a few of these apparently unenforceable "Penalty Notice Charges" (as opposed to a Penalty Charge Notice).
In a nutshell, the hospital provide x amount of spaces for z amount of staff. The number of spaces available is around half of what is needed, and most of the staff car parks are barriers where access can only be gained via swipe card that only staff possess. Despite this, the trust employs a parking company to go round and ticket staff cars on a daily basis for all manner of things such as not mathematically in line with the space lines, permit not fully visible etc etc. The current one was for exceeding a 20 min drop off limit in the nursery car park of 7 spaces, a totally distance part of the hospital well away from anything remotely relevant.
Some members of staff have been ignoring these for years and have never had the matter taken anywhere or enforced, despite countless threatening letters of bailiffs, court action and debt recovery. Most nurses end up paying through fear however, as after 2 or 3 threats they feel uncomfortable and intimidated. Its basically a continual war that is happening between the NHS trust and it's staff, which the trust are permitting. We are told that the parking tickets are of the type that are not enforceable - Martin Lewis made reference to these on his money program this year and his advice was not to acknowledge team at all.
So this recent one has been ignored and has now escalated to a company called DRP threatening court action. It will be ignored along with all other correspondance, but I can't believe that this behaviour is allowed to continue and seemingly legal. They have even managed to trace our new address that we had not changed on the vehicles V5 document, how on earth can they have done this? If the current owners of the house have done this then they have either a) unlawfully opened mail or b) disclosed our address without our consent.
So how can I expose this shameful behaviour of the NHS trust, along with numerous others, employing and allowing a company to continually blackmail their staff for parking where they are entitled to with empty threats that cannot be enforced?
In a nutshell, the hospital provide x amount of spaces for z amount of staff. The number of spaces available is around half of what is needed, and most of the staff car parks are barriers where access can only be gained via swipe card that only staff possess. Despite this, the trust employs a parking company to go round and ticket staff cars on a daily basis for all manner of things such as not mathematically in line with the space lines, permit not fully visible etc etc. The current one was for exceeding a 20 min drop off limit in the nursery car park of 7 spaces, a totally distance part of the hospital well away from anything remotely relevant.
Some members of staff have been ignoring these for years and have never had the matter taken anywhere or enforced, despite countless threatening letters of bailiffs, court action and debt recovery. Most nurses end up paying through fear however, as after 2 or 3 threats they feel uncomfortable and intimidated. Its basically a continual war that is happening between the NHS trust and it's staff, which the trust are permitting. We are told that the parking tickets are of the type that are not enforceable - Martin Lewis made reference to these on his money program this year and his advice was not to acknowledge team at all.
So this recent one has been ignored and has now escalated to a company called DRP threatening court action. It will be ignored along with all other correspondance, but I can't believe that this behaviour is allowed to continue and seemingly legal. They have even managed to trace our new address that we had not changed on the vehicles V5 document, how on earth can they have done this? If the current owners of the house have done this then they have either a) unlawfully opened mail or b) disclosed our address without our consent.
So how can I expose this shameful behaviour of the NHS trust, along with numerous others, employing and allowing a company to continually blackmail their staff for parking where they are entitled to with empty threats that cannot be enforced?
I would think you'll find it isn't harassment in legal terms as they are entitled to chase you for these charges.
The fact that they don't pursue them us meaningless as clearly people do pay.
We don't have parking sufficient for the number of staff, you just have to walk a bit further.
The fact that they don't pursue them us meaningless as clearly people do pay.
We don't have parking sufficient for the number of staff, you just have to walk a bit further.
Tom1312 said:
I would think you'll find it isn't harassment in legal terms as they are entitled to chase you for these charges.
The fact that they don't pursue them us meaningless as clearly people do pay.
We don't have parking sufficient for the number of staff, you just have to walk a bit further.
To be fair, if a car park is used by staff and others, and charges, and is too small, then the OP's wife is going to have to walk a lot further than 'a bit'.The fact that they don't pursue them us meaningless as clearly people do pay.
We don't have parking sufficient for the number of staff, you just have to walk a bit further.
It causes a great deal of stress though for those that get hounded for penalties that are apparently not even legal.
The people using these private, staff only car parks, are staff who are entitled to use them. So why even have any enforcement - if the car park is full so be it, people can look elsewhere, but there is no access unless you are staff - so pointless to persecute your own staff like this surely?
Did I mention, the trust get 50% of all revenue raised by these parking people whoever they are. Acceptable behaviour then?
The people using these private, staff only car parks, are staff who are entitled to use them. So why even have any enforcement - if the car park is full so be it, people can look elsewhere, but there is no access unless you are staff - so pointless to persecute your own staff like this surely?
Did I mention, the trust get 50% of all revenue raised by these parking people whoever they are. Acceptable behaviour then?
singlecoil said:
To be fair, if a car park is used by staff and others, and charges, and is too small, then the OP's wife is going to have to walk a lot further than 'a bit'.
She asked hospital security to escort her to her car and it was refused, the next nearest parking is a long long way away and in dark unlit wooded areas. Had the need to go to Derby Royal Infirmary a while back and wondered how the heck the staff manage to park given there aren't enough spaces and it's on the edge of Derby and every road I could find around the hospital has yellow lines specifically to prevent them becoming free car parks.
Greenish said:
It causes a great deal of stress though for those that get hounded for penalties that are apparently not even legal.
I was under the impression that there was a change in legislation a year or two back so that these penalities, and those in retail parks and supermarket car parks are now enforceable. Am I wrong?Greenish said:
So how can I expose this shameful behaviour of the NHS trust, along with numerous others, employing and allowing a company to continually blackmail their staff for parking where they are entitled to with empty threats that cannot be enforced?
Are you saying the staff comply with the parking rules in force and the demands for money by the parking enforcement company are spurious?Buses every 12 minutes.
http://www.derbyhospitals.nhs.uk/about/how-to-find...
Presumably the car parks are relatively free at night, given lower staffing levels.
The hospital my wife works at has a problem with staff parking.
The hospital building and grounds are now owned by the company that runs the majority of out of hours minor injuries units and is leased back to the NHS. They employ a woman to issue staff parking permits but only a very small number are allocated to NHS with the majority going to this companies employees, even though many of them are rarely required to park there. It is also in an area with a large mosque nearby that the users of seem to deem it ok to use the staff car park as and when they want.
The NHS is in serious trouble, it is being privatised piecemeal without anyone realising. When you visit a minor injuries unit now you will find they are far more likely to give you every test, x-ray etc under the sun as they now charge the NHS with no control. The current junior doctors situation will sooner or later find a doctors agency brought in to fill the gap leading further more to privatisation.
The hospital building and grounds are now owned by the company that runs the majority of out of hours minor injuries units and is leased back to the NHS. They employ a woman to issue staff parking permits but only a very small number are allocated to NHS with the majority going to this companies employees, even though many of them are rarely required to park there. It is also in an area with a large mosque nearby that the users of seem to deem it ok to use the staff car park as and when they want.
The NHS is in serious trouble, it is being privatised piecemeal without anyone realising. When you visit a minor injuries unit now you will find they are far more likely to give you every test, x-ray etc under the sun as they now charge the NHS with no control. The current junior doctors situation will sooner or later find a doctors agency brought in to fill the gap leading further more to privatisation.
Cfnteabag said:
The hospital my wife works at has a problem with staff parking.
The hospital building and grounds are now owned by the company that runs the majority of out of hours minor injuries units and is leased back to the NHS. They employ a woman to issue staff parking permits but only a very small number are allocated to NHS with the majority going to this companies employees, even though many of them are rarely required to park there. It is also in an area with a large mosque nearby that the users of seem to deem it ok to use the staff car park as and when they want.
How do the Mosqueteers manage to park there without a pass?The hospital building and grounds are now owned by the company that runs the majority of out of hours minor injuries units and is leased back to the NHS. They employ a woman to issue staff parking permits but only a very small number are allocated to NHS with the majority going to this companies employees, even though many of them are rarely required to park there. It is also in an area with a large mosque nearby that the users of seem to deem it ok to use the staff car park as and when they want.
Riley Blue said:
Greenish said:
It causes a great deal of stress though for those that get hounded for penalties that are apparently not even legal.
I was under the impression that there was a change in legislation a year or two back so that these penalities, and those in retail parks and supermarket car parks are now enforceable. Am I wrong?Only up here in Scotland is it safe to ignore these tickets if you wanted to
cmaguire said:
In this country fining people for all manner of nonsense has become a way of life. It has completely undermined my respect for the State and rules in general. These days I'm actively pleased if I can put one over on them.
This shouldn't be the case, but that's their fault.
Good point.This shouldn't be the case, but that's their fault.
Most Spanish towns are absolutely spotless.
They don't achieve this by imposing £80 fines.
They simply clean the streets every single night.
I think that my street gets swept once a fortnight. I will have to take notes, because it is filthy at the moment. It is covered in autumn's detritus. None of it is the result of human activity.
There is a real car parking crisis in this country.
I got a 60 quid ticket at hospital few days ago. Rushed my girlfriend in, she's 28 week pregnant and we were worried she was losing the baby, I won't go into details.
I drove into small car park near labour ward entrance, went straight in, didn't see a ticket machine or anything, ten hours later i go to car and have my ticket. Turns out there's a 1 hour limit on that area
It's just robbery.
I got a 60 quid ticket at hospital few days ago. Rushed my girlfriend in, she's 28 week pregnant and we were worried she was losing the baby, I won't go into details.
I drove into small car park near labour ward entrance, went straight in, didn't see a ticket machine or anything, ten hours later i go to car and have my ticket. Turns out there's a 1 hour limit on that area
It's just robbery.
Countdown said:
How do the Mosqueteers manage to park there without a pass?
No barrier on car park with parking controlled by security checking permits in windows, not having any power over those who don't work there nothing to stop them.Plus its not like people from the religion of peace unknown for being considerate and thinking of others
Cfnteabag said:
No barrier on car park with parking controlled by security checking permits in windows, not having any power over those who don't work there nothing to stop them.
Plus its not like people from the religion of peace unknown for being considerate and thinking of others
So they can control people who work there but not those who don't? Plus its not like people from the religion of peace unknown for being considerate and thinking of others
Anyway the solution seems easy. get your missus to join the "Religion of Peace", they seem to have figured out a way of parking without any difficulty. And if she's wearing the ninja gear they won't know who she is either...
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