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Hospital parking fine: nurse ‘absolutely disillusioned’ about possible court action

Deborah Das parked on a grass verge but says she can never find a parking space at her trust

Deborah Das parked on a grass verge but says she can never find a parking space at her NHS trust

Picture: iStock

A nurse is being threatened with court action over a £25 parking fine from 2019 – which has now grown to £300 – despite diligently paying for a parking permit at her place of work.

Deborah Das, a specialist nurse practitioner at the Nottingham Breast Institute at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), was fined for parking on a grass verge rather than a designated space at her work, according to the Nottinghamshire Live website.

Nurse describes frustration at lack of parking spaces

Ms Das told the media outlet that despite having a parking permit, she never gets a space when she arrives for work at 8am but when parking is conscious about not blocking access to the hospital buildings.

She said NUH is allowing First Parking, which runs the car park for the trust, to pursue her through the small claims courts for the fine, which has now grown to £300.

Ms Das says staff are paying for permits they often cannot use

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Ms Das said: ‘I am going through the mediation process to negotiate this amount, but I feel absolutely disillusioned that the trust I work for would allow this to happen to staff considering what we have all been through over the past year.’

She added that she paid for parking directly out of her wages and that the trust is aware there is insufficient parking for staff with permits: ‘Essentially we are paying for something the trust cannot provide.’

Unison East Midlands regional officer Dave Ratchford said: ‘The trust issues many more car parking permits than there are spaces. There is no question the car parking situation is unfair and we have been negotiating with NUH over this for quite some time. Staff parking should be free.’

NHS trust acknowledges dearth of parking spaces

Andrew Chatten, NUH director of estates and facilities, said Ms Das had received 44 parking tickets since 2018 for inappropriate parking – including parking in disabled bays and ‘causing an obstruction’ – and that all of the trust’s letters to Ms Das since 2018 had been ignored.

He added: ‘Unfortunately we only have 2,722 parking spaces for our 16,500 staff to use on our hospital sites. Parking is a challenge, which is why we encourage staff, where they can, to use alternative transport such as the Medilink Park and Ride service, which is free for staff.’

Parking for staff at NUH during the COVID-19 pandemic has been free.


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