To by put off by jobs with lack of parking.

[Boo2012]

Exactly that really. I get really really anxious about parking anywhere! I tend to google map, street view and even drive to places before actually visiting. I don't go anywhere if there's no parking unless unavoidable. I've been kept up at night fretting about parking. Mad I know.

Anyway, I've been looking for work. I've been a SAHP for a while.

Mil works somewhere about 15 minutes away. She has told me that there is work available there. Seems like a nice place to work BUT I can't deal with the lack of parking which she's told me about and I've heard it from others. Basically there is no actual spaces for a staff, customer parking is also limited. It means that people are parking outside peoples houses in the nearby village and the locals are very annoyed at this. There is no actual car park nearby or anything. Not a very built up or busy area. There is no good public transport links here either.

I just couldn't deal with the uncertainty of parking every day. Sounds mad. But I need to know I can park. Mil thinks I'm mad and says you just need to drive around to find a space - I don't want to drive around looking for a space. Parking rage 😂

I've seen another job that could have potential with lots of car parks nearby. Admittedly it will cost £££.

But surely I'm not being unreasonable to be put off a job over lack of suitable parking nearby?!

It's about 15 minutes drive for me to DMs house and we both live in the suburbs of the same city.

It still takes over an hour and two buses to do it on public transport and that's if you get a quick connection. I can cycle quicker even though I'm pretty unfit and it's quite hilly.

The OP also hasn't said if this job involves shifts, which would make public transport pretty much impossible if she needs to travel between about 11 pm and 6 am.

Employers who provide free, adequate for demand onsite car parking are pretty thin on the ground these days.

Not to generalise as this issue you're having is very specific, but I feel like this is tied up with you being a SAHP. It reminds me of my mum since she retired where she'll get stressed about things way out of proportion, and she'd have taken them in their stride when she was working and had more tangible shit to worry about. Like your MiL, when you get in the swing of it, it won't be a big deal at all. You're just fixating on it as a cause of anxiety because you've been at home so long. Not that you haven't been out or had stresses of parenting, but that's very different when it's in your safe bubble. When you're back in the world of work this'll just be a thing you do and will have bigger fish to fry. It's fine. A 15 min drive plus a bit of a pootle around is hardly the commute from hell. Focus on the big picture and move forward.

My previous job was a nightmare for parking.

It wasn't too bad when I first started but over the years they employed more and more people. In the end, the solution was a four week rotation, whereby on your week you had to park a 20 min walk away in a borrowed car park. There was no provision for transport so people were expected to get there early enough to walk over. This was fine for most people, but one colleague (a single mum) lost her job because there wasn't enough time to drop her child off at school and then park up and walk over. No one in her team offered to pick her up and her manager wouldn't cut her any slack.

The employer I work for now has free parking on site, my previous employer was in a town centre and we had to butter up the parking wardens. My employer before that had a multi storey car park with a shuttle bus.
Have you tried out the parking at the time you start as a dummy run?

This is very frustrating but no, YANBU. Assume you’ve considered/discounted lift-sharing with your mother-in-law.

I turned down an otherwise promising job once because the office was in a converted church in a small village, with only three parking spaces — which were reserved for the directors, natch — and one bus a week serving the village. And they wondered why they were struggling to recruit.

A particular hospital I worked at had a mad scramble for spaces between 0700-0730. It was awful. Yet, it said verrrry clearly on the permit request you had to work shifts which must include unsociable hours to get one. I was always very seeing the amount of cars which disappeared at between 1pm and 3pm daily!!

YANBU it puts me off too. It's a must now I'm disabled but even before, I didn't want the hassle of finding a space each morning.

@CounsellorTroi

Employers who provide free, adequate for demand onsite car parking are pretty thin on the ground these days.

It's not really, entirely dependent on circumstances. Obviously if you work in a town centre, or somewhere like a hospital, you probably can't park at work, for free or otherwise, but many out of town places can, eg retail parks, supermarkets, industrial or office parks etc.

I visit clients for work, maybe about 100 different sites per year and about 90% of them have a free onsite car park.

Once I stopped working in London (20 years ago), I never worked anywhere that didn't have its own car park. Literally in the last year, I moved to a role in a town centre location where I had to park about 10 minutes away from the building, in a public car park, and pay for it. I was not impressed, but it wasn't a big deal. I'm going to another job on Monday, which has acres of car parking- its just a tiny perk, but it makes me happy.

It's been a factor in me looking for jobs. If there is no staff parking, and poor public transport, it can be really difficult.

@Looubylou

You are not being unreasonable - I base this on many years of trying to park in hospital carparks for 1230 shifts. What made it worse was Parking charges came out of my wages. We were also fined if we parked in a non staff space. Very stressful, especially when you then have to walk a considerable distance to changing rooms and another 10 mins walk to the ward after that.

Same here. Plus we were told our AL would be used if we were late due to parking.

I would turn up at 8am for a 10am start just to get parked

Lift sharing with mil wouldn't happen. I'm looking for totally different hours and days to her so likely wouldn't work out. Also mil lives in the other direction to us. We don't live in the same place.

As in op, there are no public transport links in the village I live apart from one bus first thing.

It's 15 minutes away on a busy road. I'm not a confident cyclist.

What about a moped? Could that be an option?

Personally I would look elsewhere for a job, 1) parking 2) working with family even if in different shifts is awkward.

There is absolutely zero public transport. I live rurally in the southwest. Public transport is poop. You can't rely on it for sure. It's the downside to rural life - you have to drive for sure! 😒

Thanks all. I've applied for another job in the closest town with parking nearby.

The job mil has isn't in a town with suitable parking. It's in an out of town unit type thing right on the main road but houses 5-10 minute walk away where people park. I just can't deal with the stress of parking every damn day! I don't like parking outside peoples houses.

Same op I get anxious thinking about it. Parking at our office was so narrow and my parking not great. I parked near houses but I only did 2 hrs day. Its stressful agree

Good luck - I totally get what you are saying. We are a 45 min walk over fields from our nearest bus stop. Buses only run once an hour, plus they take an hour to get into town. They only run 6am - 6pm. So 2 3/4 hrs to travel what takes me 15-20 mins tops in a car.
Work and travel is stressful without parking issues on top.

You are not being unreasonable. I have really resented the problems with parking at my current workplace. I pay 30 quid and still can't find a space. Also I've had tickets for minor infringements in workplace parking. Deffo explore public transport bike or parking options.

yabu
15 min drive is perfect cycling distance.

@purplesequins

yabu 15 min drive is perfect cycling distance.

Unless the 15mins are mainly motorway.

I WFH but if I needed to go into the office it would be around a 15-20 min drive... I wouldn't fancy cycling it though.

I'm guessing depending on where you live and traffic a 15 min drive could be around 3 miles, for me it's more like 10/12 as I'm in the sticks.

Absolutely, I've just turned down four jobs that only have parking for directors/top management and not staff. Taken a job with parking.

Drive to the area and see if there are some more quiet streets. There must be some that are 10-15 minute walk away. You could find your usual quiet spot and park there most days.