NURSE FINED ON A 12-HOUR SHIFT
ANURSE at a Welsh hospital has told of her “disgust” after being hit with a parking ticket for leaving her car on a grass verge while working a 12-and-a-half hour shift.
The incident, which took place at a hospital in Gwynedd, has left the woman furious with the council.
The NHS worker, who asked not to be named, arrived at the hospital to start her shift at 7.30am last month but realised there was nowhere to park.
She said staff were previously allowed to park on a grass verge as long as they weren’t on the concrete – but unbeknown to her, the rules had recently changed.
When she arrived back at her car at 8.30pm she saw she had been given a parking fine.
The employee, who has worked in nursing for 12 years, said she was horrified to receive the fine, but felt she had to pay up to avoid the price increasing.
She is now calling for more to be done for hospital staff to avoid them ending up in the situation she found herself in.
She added: “I’m a single mum, and money is tight as it is, our salary isn’t in line with inflation at the moment, so whacking a parking ticket on me while I’m at work really takes the biscuit.
“I was parked out of the way along with three other cars yet on the way into the hospital cars were parked up in the kerb and along grass verges but no tickets on them at all.
“I paid the £25 ticket before it went to £50 but it was annoying.
“That’s school dinners for my child for two weeks, or diesel to get to work for a week.
“If a council worker’s family member was being treated in hospital would they prefer staff to be circling the car park trying to find a space?
“The truth is that sometimes there is literally nowhere to park. I can’t cycle to work because I have children to take to school and I live too far away. It’s purely a money-making scheme. It would help if we were given badges for our cars but in all honesty I don’t think it would make a difference. I can’t see it ever changing to be honest.
”We used to be allowed to park where I parked as long as it was on the grass and not the concrete. I wasn’t even warned the rules were changing and we couldn’t park there.
“I’ve been in nursing for 12 years and worked throughout Covid while the council staff probably worked from home.
“I don’t remember any parking fines while we were drowning during the pandemic.
“I am not getting at the hospital, it’s the council that slap the tickets on cars, they are making a fortune.”
Gwynedd council said it carries out parking enforcement work on behalf of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to ensure the hospital’s car parks are “safe for all visitors and that motorists park responsibly”.
It added: “At the request of the health board, penalty notices are issued when any motorist has ignored the clearly marked parking restrictions.
“Anyone who believes they have been issued a parking ticket unfairly can lodge an appeal by following the advice on their ticket.”