NHS Trust allowing harassment of staff via parking charges
Discussion
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?
Get in touch with the Parking Prankster. The subject of NHS Trusts and their use of PPCs has been featured many times on his blog - for example this one.While it was written from the PoV of visitors rather than staff, the fundamental point remains the same. NHS Trusts should not be getting into bed with predatory PPCs.
Have you read this? - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-pat...
PoFA 2012 means that the threats are only empty if the PPC chooses not to follow through with them. Ignoring might work with some, but it's very much a case of know your enemy.
The strategy is basically unsound. Get it wrong and you may well regret it later.
A Google of the firm DRP and the associated 1 star Google reviews make for an interesting read - it appears this may be one case of many where threats are being used despite no actual basis in which to carry them out.
I also found this about DRP on Google after my other half went through this a couple of years back:
http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/debt-collectors/
I also found this about DRP on Google after my other half went through this a couple of years back:
http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/debt-collectors/
OP, You have my sympathy but I'd suggest the best way to proceed is to find work elsewhere. I wouldn't work for an employer that treated it's staff in this way. I have a real issue with parking charges for visitors/patients in Hospitals and by the sounds of it the staff are treated even worse.
In truth it is every Hospital that has issues with parking for staff. If they do provide parking the costs to the staff are extortionate and they do restrict the amount for staff as they can charge more for the privileged to visitors.
At Doncaster they use a car park at the racecourse and bus people into the hospital during the day, at night it is not on.
I too worry about the safety of my Daughter walking to a far flung car park in the early hours or late at night where the only protection is a fat man watching a CCTV screen and the only time there has ever been anyone to assist is when threats were made to her in A&E by one of the family of patient.
If hospitals did regard there staff and give free parking, the problem would be the outcry from some quarters at how we were subsidising them, would be so loud.
So we will continue with unsuitable parking arrangements and when a nurse or Dr is attacked, "lessons will be learnt".
At Doncaster they use a car park at the racecourse and bus people into the hospital during the day, at night it is not on.
I too worry about the safety of my Daughter walking to a far flung car park in the early hours or late at night where the only protection is a fat man watching a CCTV screen and the only time there has ever been anyone to assist is when threats were made to her in A&E by one of the family of patient.
If hospitals did regard there staff and give free parking, the problem would be the outcry from some quarters at how we were subsidising them, would be so loud.
So we will continue with unsuitable parking arrangements and when a nurse or Dr is attacked, "lessons will be learnt".
I worked at a hospital in the south for a while. There was a survey done on the cars parked on site, there was a provision of 1,500 valid spaces.
There were 2,500 cars.
Answer was tofine charge the staff to park on site with a total ban on staff parking in patient spaces or not parking in a marked space.
I did my test and got a motorbike instead and then parked for free near my office.
Some people were getting to work an hour or two ahead of their normal shift just to get a staff space, some had to park in nearby villages and caused mayhem there to the locals by parking on all the streets, outside houses, wherever they could. Many occasions of people being hours late as they could not find a space on site or in a nearby village and when they did they had to find a bus service, etc.
Another hospital I used to have to go to had developed an unoffial system where staff would triple park in the car park and then leave notes on the cars they had blocked in so they could then come and move them when required.
Here's an example before I got my bike. I was parked next to the TT and did get manage to get out of there without any help but you can see why staff cars are normally covered in scrapes.
There were 2,500 cars.
Answer was to
I did my test and got a motorbike instead and then parked for free near my office.
Some people were getting to work an hour or two ahead of their normal shift just to get a staff space, some had to park in nearby villages and caused mayhem there to the locals by parking on all the streets, outside houses, wherever they could. Many occasions of people being hours late as they could not find a space on site or in a nearby village and when they did they had to find a bus service, etc.
Another hospital I used to have to go to had developed an unoffial system where staff would triple park in the car park and then leave notes on the cars they had blocked in so they could then come and move them when required.
Here's an example before I got my bike. I was parked next to the TT and did get manage to get out of there without any help but you can see why staff cars are normally covered in scrapes.
Every company / site I've ever worked for / at has had fewer parking spaces available than staff who would like a space. Most of them need to manage the car park to ensure it's used effectively, so asking staff to park properly and display their permit doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
I doubt that they're dishing out fines for not parking perfectly symmetrically in a space / not having their permit displayed exactly right. Even if they are, then the permit is an easy one to rectify and a photo of the parking when charged with not being mathematically correct is an easy win.
The use of the words harassment and stress are emotional hyperbole. How many tickets have you had for the reasons you mention?
I doubt that they're dishing out fines for not parking perfectly symmetrically in a space / not having their permit displayed exactly right. Even if they are, then the permit is an easy one to rectify and a photo of the parking when charged with not being mathematically correct is an easy win.
The use of the words harassment and stress are emotional hyperbole. How many tickets have you had for the reasons you mention?
spaximus said:
In truth it is every Hospital that has issues with parking for staff. If they do provide parking the costs to the staff are extortionate and they do restrict the amount for staff as they can charge more for the privileged to visitors.
At Doncaster they use a car park at the racecourse and bus people into the hospital during the day, at night it is not on.
I too worry about the safety of my Daughter walking to a far flung car park in the early hours or late at night where the only protection is a fat man watching a CCTV screen and the only time there has ever been anyone to assist is when threats were made to her in A&E by one of the family of patient.
If hospitals did regard there staff and give free parking, the problem would be the outcry from some quarters at how we were subsidising them, would be so loud.
So we will continue with unsuitable parking arrangements and when a nurse or Dr is attacked, "lessons will be learnt".
Course it won'tAt Doncaster they use a car park at the racecourse and bus people into the hospital during the day, at night it is not on.
I too worry about the safety of my Daughter walking to a far flung car park in the early hours or late at night where the only protection is a fat man watching a CCTV screen and the only time there has ever been anyone to assist is when threats were made to her in A&E by one of the family of patient.
If hospitals did regard there staff and give free parking, the problem would be the outcry from some quarters at how we were subsidising them, would be so loud.
So we will continue with unsuitable parking arrangements and when a nurse or Dr is attacked, "lessons will be learnt".
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news...
Gavia said:
Every company / site I've ever worked for / at has had fewer parking spaces available than staff who would like a space. Most of them need to manage the car park to ensure it's used effectively, so asking staff to park properly and display their permit doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
What is unreasonable is not providing sufficient spaces for staff to park. If everyone works the same fixed hours then lift sharing is an option that an employer can help facilitate but if they want flexibility and staff to work anti social hours then they should be as accomodating as possible and offer free parking. All this kind of soddy treatment of employees does is drive the good ones, who do have options, away. I've seen it happen in private companies where short sighted management think they can get away with treating employees poorly and then can't understand why they can't keep good people.
Devil2575 said:
What is unreasonable is not providing sufficient spaces for staff to park.
If everyone works the same fixed hours then lift sharing is an option that an employer can help facilitate but if they want flexibility and staff to work anti social hours then they should be as accomodating as possible and offer free parking. All this kind of soddy treatment of employees does is drive the good ones, who do have options, away. I've seen it happen in private companies where short sighted management think they can get away with treating employees poorly and then can't understand why they can't keep good people.
Doesn't help the NHS is full of whining middle aged women who expect a parking space for their car when there clearly isn't enough to go round.If everyone works the same fixed hours then lift sharing is an option that an employer can help facilitate but if they want flexibility and staff to work anti social hours then they should be as accomodating as possible and offer free parking. All this kind of soddy treatment of employees does is drive the good ones, who do have options, away. I've seen it happen in private companies where short sighted management think they can get away with treating employees poorly and then can't understand why they can't keep good people.
Won't even entertain other ways of getting to work even though they have no more commitments outside of work now the kids have grown up.
Downward said:
Doesn't help the NHS is full of whining middle aged women who expect a parking space for their car when there clearly isn't enough to go round.
Won't even entertain other ways of getting to work even though they have no more commitments outside of work now the kids have grown up.
You know this to be the case?Won't even entertain other ways of getting to work even though they have no more commitments outside of work now the kids have grown up.
2006, but still relevant;
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/hsq/health-statistic...
Roughly 80% of workers in the healthcare sector are female. Roughly 70% of those women are over 35 and 35% over 45. No data on number or age of children.
Devil2575 said:
What is unreasonable is not providing sufficient spaces for staff to park.
No it isn't (unreasonable). Car usage has grown and in many cases hospitals are located where there simply isn't enough space to accommodate both staff and patients. So hospitals have to somehow control the numbers of spaces they have to give to staff and they do this via using permits.OTOH hospitals tend to be quite well served by public transport. If they're not on a bus route they tend to have a dedicated bus service. But let's be honest, most people would hoose car rather than bus if they could. That's fair enough but it's not the hospital's responsibility to accommodate this.
Devil2575 said:
If everyone works the same fixed hours then lift sharing is an option that an employer can help facilitate but if they want flexibility and staff to work anti social hours then they should be as accomodating as possible and offer free parking.
Countdown said:
No it isn't (unreasonable). Car usage has grown and in many cases hospitals are located where there simply isn't enough space to accommodate both staff and patients. So hospitals have to somehow control the numbers of spaces they have to give to staff and they do this via using permits.
OTOH hospitals tend to be quite well served by public transport. If they're not on a bus route they tend to have a dedicated bus service. But let's be honest, most people would hoose car rather than bus if they could. That's fair enough but it's not the hospital's responsibility to accommodate this.
Yes but as car use has grown, the shape of our towns has changed as has publuc transport provision. On top of this employers frequenty expect employees to work longer flexible hours rather than the more traditional 9 to 5. For many people public transport simply isn't an option. In a city it may work but I certainly could not easily get to my local hospital without using a car. It's the same for my place of work, bus services have been cut to the point where I couldn'get to work and back and do my contractual hours. To be honest bus services are rubbish round here no matter where you are going and I'm not adversed to using the bus. OTOH hospitals tend to be quite well served by public transport. If they're not on a bus route they tend to have a dedicated bus service. But let's be honest, most people would hoose car rather than bus if they could. That's fair enough but it's not the hospital's responsibility to accommodate this.
If spaces are limited then there should be a way to manage the situation that doesn't involve extortion or reserving them for the management. As a patient I find the car parking fees at my local hospital a disgrace. I don't have a choice about how to get there the vast majority of the time and the charges are high and not easy or convenient to pay. When you have to take your kids into the hospital because they're ill do you think it right that you should have to worry whether you have sufficient change to pay for what could turn out to be a long stay? I don't often carry cash let alone a lot of coins.
Devil2575 said:
Yes but as car use has grown, the shape of our towns has changed as has publuc transport provision. On top of this employers frequenty expect employees to work longer flexible hours rather than the more traditional 9 to 5. For many people public transport simply isn't an option. In a city it may work but I certainly could not easily get to my local hospital without using a car. It's the same for my place of work, bus services have been cut to the point where I couldn'get to work and back and do my contractual hours. To be honest bus services are rubbish round here no matter where you are going and I'm not adversed to using the bus.
If spaces are limited then there should be a way to manage the situation that doesn't involve extortion or reserving them for the management. As a patient I find the car parking fees at my local hospital a disgrace. I don't have a choice about how to get there the vast majority of the time and the charges are high and not easy or convenient to pay. When you have to take your kids into the hospital because they're ill do you think it right that you should have to worry whether you have sufficient change to pay for what could turn out to be a long stay? I don't often carry cash let alone a lot of coins.
Re: the bit in bold, do you have any suggestions?If spaces are limited then there should be a way to manage the situation that doesn't involve extortion or reserving them for the management. As a patient I find the car parking fees at my local hospital a disgrace. I don't have a choice about how to get there the vast majority of the time and the charges are high and not easy or convenient to pay. When you have to take your kids into the hospital because they're ill do you think it right that you should have to worry whether you have sufficient change to pay for what could turn out to be a long stay? I don't often carry cash let alone a lot of coins.
You've explained the difficulties you have in using public transport. Fair enough. But then I assume everybody who uses your hospital has the same difficulties. Who should the hospital give priority access to? Patients? Visitors? Staff? The extortion as you put it is a way of "managing" the problem.
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