To think that i should get a parking permit?

[mosschops30]

I work as an itu nurse in a major teaching hospital, i work 12 hour shifts days and nights. I have always had a general pass that allows me to pay a staff rate and park in shitty car parks away from the main entrance.
However this year i have been issued an out of hours only so i cannot park in the grounds when working days.

There are no direct bus routes from my house, i have appealed sayng that i would need to get up at approx 04.30am to take the dcs to childcare, toget back home for 06.00 to get bus at 06.15, then change buses at approx 06.30 to get to work for 7am.
I can do the same coming home or get a direct service which only runs hourly, so if i miss the 8pm i have to wait until 9pm, also only stops a 20 min walk away from my house.

So potentially my day could start at 04.30 and finish at approx 9pm depending on which bus i catch.

So AIBU to expect a parking permit? I live 4 miles away.
Administrative workers working 9-5pm who live 6 miles away will get one.
Apparently rhe cut off is 6 miles regardless of your job or hours you work!

I have spoken to my RCN rep and she is checking on this, where lse do i go?

Of course YANBU. I always found Unison to be more helpful than the RCN if that helps at all.

Sadly am with the RCN at the moment, who akways seem to be for th trust/government rather than the workers

That's a hell of a dilemma.

Is there any way that you could cycle?

If you can't cycle in, could you park in a public rate car park?
We have to - I pay £4.50 a day parking.

I could i suppose if i had a bike, but i would still have to get up early to take the dcs, then return home for bike. Plus i dont really fancy a 25 minute bike ride at the end of my shift, its all i can manage to drive home most days!
Car park is £2.40 every two hours, so for 13 hours would be a fortune

Can you contact the person in charge of your hospital. It really is dangerous for a person to be ex[ected to do what you are. A woman in particular.
I really do believe that nurses are more important than clerical staff.
Do try to join Unison too, not sure whether you can be in two unions at the same time though.

I know some people at work who park up to a mile away for free on the streets and then cycle in the rest of the way on a fold up bike they can get in the car.

Would that be possible?

Can you park somewhere nearby and walk in?? I also work in a major teaching hospital, with extorionate rates, and a 3 year wait for a permit (and live 45 miles from work!) If I take my car, I park about a mile away, where parking is free, and hop on a bus in, or walk, the last mile or so.... Would that be an option?

scurry do you really think i should have to go through all that as a key worker? When i studied at the same hospital i parked off site and walked in every day because it was light, safe and i was working reasonable hours.
And the chances of getting a fold up bike in the back of my mini are slim lol

jenstar what time do you start and finish work to do all that?

mosschops - agree with you about the RCN. Could this be some kind of indirect discrimination - because you have to take dc's to nursery etc?

Do your night shift hours stop at 7.30am? You could claim that even though you are in work at 7am it is still unsocial hours because night staff get that half hour paid unsocial (as nights). Likewise if your shift finishes at 9pm then that is into unsocial hours as well.

Does the chief executive get a car pass???

Just thinking, if you finish your shift at 9pm, get public transport home and manage to get home at 10pm, then have to get up at 4.30am to take dc to nursery, etc and get into work at 7am, when do you have time to sleep?

Can you tell I am another nurse who had to fill a 4 page questionnaire in order to get my car park pass (managed to get one because I live 12 miles away).

Sorry but no one is entitled to parking at their place of work. I was trying to think of solutions for you, that is all.

Parking at my place of work is practically non existent. I have to work through multi storey car parks on my own late at night. My last job involved walking through the red light district at night to get back to my car. We just try and find people to walk with. It is a pain but it doesn't stop me going to work.

*walk through

Lol aged im sure that they would allow me to park for that half hour nd then expect me to mkve.
My shifts are 7-7.30 days and nights, but often i dont get away until 8 ish.
I have told them that if i got home at 9pm and then was in on days the next day i woukd only have 6 and a half hours sleep time, which im sure is illegal.

I imagine the chief exec has his own space,because he is very imporyant

mosschops30 I'm supposed to work 8.30am -5.30pm (but 1/2 day Friday), so get the bus at 6.30am, and home about 7/7.30pm - am incredibly grateful for the fact my other half works 3 miles from home, so can do all the domestic stuff! See my daughter for about 1/2 an hour before bed most weeknights, but do the Mummy things on a Fri & weekend. Needs must, and all that.....
Incidentally, the permit system at my hospital seems mad. There's no priority given for distance, kids, hours worked, etc. - you just go on a waiting list if you want/need one, and when you get to the top of the list, you get one!

mosschops, somewhere at the back of my mind is a law or recommendation regarding the number of hours between shifts. I will think on it and come back.

scurry i havent said its stopping me from going to work, i just think that those who work shifts (and i mean anyone including domestic staff, radiographers etc) should be given priority over those working in the shops or offices

Also what happens if you are really late off shift? One late shift one of our patients had to be transferred to another hospital 45 miles away. The ambulance came just as the night shift was taking report. I was on the late shift. If a night shift worker went with the patient that would have meant 1 trained and 1 HCA for 32 patients on a surgical ward.

I went with the patient. My shift should have ended at 9.45pm, but I was returned back to my ward at 2.30am (was supposed to be back on duty at 7am).

Now, if I was using public transport to get into work I would have been stuck as no buses at 2.30am where I lived. I would have had to get a taxi and pay for it. Luckily I had my car, but if Mosschops was in my situation how would she have got home if no car parking permit, so no car?

Working Time Regulations demand 11 hours between shifts, although some shift workers are exempt. However, that's only between the start and finish times of the shifts, with no account for travel.

Your two strongest cards here are: Your children, under work/life balance, they are changing your conditions and impacting heavily on this, and your safety - i.e. you are being asked to travel alone in the dark in a manner that is unsafe. Under H&S, your employer has a duty to consider the impact of this.

Frankly, I'd be making a noise about the fact that, as a nurse, you don't need to be so tired that you could make a critical mistake as well.

And remember, you need to put everything in writing!

Thanks, so do i write this out in a letter to the car parking office? Who else do i copy it to?

Well done ginnybag, I knew there was something.
Mosschops, I would send it to the chief executive of your trust, your union, your consultant, HR, OHD, your ward sister. In fact, probably everyone from the domestic upwards.
Good luck.

Good luck!

Fab! Would it be a tadd ott to send it to the chief exec

You would think, wouldn't you, that an experienced ITU nurse would be valued by the Trust, (hollow laughter) and that they would make every effort to make your working conditions safe.

I bet the "cost cutting manager" has a parking permit.

Good luck with that.We have this debate quite a bit at work and the resounding answer has always been "tough"