Bad for your wealth: why parking fees are taxing for NHS nurses

https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2017/jul/17/bad-for-your-wealth-why-parking-fees-are-taxing-for-nhs-nurses

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NHS hospital parking costs may be an affront to everyone (bar the companies running them), but for 75 staff members at University Hospital of Wales the cost is set to run into thousands of pounds. A court ruling in Cardiff means that each person involved in a battle with private company Indigo will be forced to pay £128 for each outstanding ticket. One nurse reportedly now owes £150,000. Why? Staff claim a lack of permits mean they are routinely forced to park in unauthorised areas or costly pay-and-display car parks.

So, how much are nurses across NHS trusts forking out on parking? “I pay £64 a month for my permit,” says Clare Newton, who has worked in nursing for more than 30 years and is at a major London hospital. To save money, she walks to work, which takes 25 minutes each way, and rents her space to a friend. “I would give it up but I’m hoping to move; it will be an hour’s drive, and then I’ll need the permit again. At the moment, it’s a three-year waiting list.” Her friend has been on the waiting list for two and a half years.

Once you get a permit, there’s no guarantee of a space either. Then what happens? “You have to go to the pay-and-display [public car park], which costs £8 to £12 a day depending on the length of shift,” she tells me. “And you can’t be seen in uniform so you have to change when you get to work.” She adds that parking can be particularly difficult for community nurses, who regularly have to drop in and out of hospitals. “They have now got permits but if there isn’t a space they have to stop at a drop-off point to run in with their samples and some have got parking tickets.”

In April, Unison reported that some hospitals are charging NHS staff parking fees of up to £100 a month. The union also found a flat-rate system – where staff are charged the same amount regardless of salary – operating at more than one in 10 trusts across the UK. In Newton’s trust, anyone earning more than £40,000 pays £64 a month for a staff permit, while those on less than £40,000 pay £48 a month. “So, if you’re a consultant earning more than £100,000, you pay the same as me.” Meanwhile, junior doctors, who after two years earn £36,000, pay the same as cleaners earning £12,000.

Anna Purves, who qualified as a nurse five years ago, earns £25,000, and works at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital. She drives to work, which takes about 45 minutes, and pays £8.80 a shift to park in the public car park. “I’m expected to get a permit for the park-and-ride, but it adds an hour to my day,” she says. “If I’m working a 12-and-a-half-hour shift, plus an hour and a half of driving and an hour of waiting for a bus, it’s just not a feasible option for me with small children and trying to have some semblance of a family life.”

Could she get an on-site permit? “You can get one based on a points system and though I score enough points, I’ve been told I don’t qualify,” she says. As a result, she tries to pick her shifts around nights and weekends, when parking is free. “But nurses who do 9-5 jobs pay five days a week, which is just over £2,000 a year,” she adds. “Meanwhile, staff end up blocking spaces meant for the public.”

Names have been changed.