teacher car parking fees

[user1497480444]

I had an interview at a school today which charges staff for use of the car park. I want to withdraw because I hate the impression this gives of the attitude of the management. Is this a thing? do schools do this now?

Yes...not only should teachers manage to,get their children in one place and themselves somewhere else for 8am....lug around at least one set of books, a box of resources, food shopping for the week (to give those poor mites who don't eat at home a fighting chance) and god only know what else...they should now do it on public transport or pay to be allowed to park. Fucking hell is all I can say to that.

I think the fact teachers take a lot of resources and books to school means using public transport is not possible, therefore I believe car parking should be free.

Totally unreasonable of the school. For whatever reason. IMO.

All the teachers I work with take books home to mark in the evenings. It's the only way to keep on top of it and still occasionally see your own dc.

Unless of course the school don't have a marking policy. Then it'd be totally worth getting the bus to avoid two hours work each night.

I usually have a tonne (literally) of soil samples with me at work. Big loads is what the loading bay is for. It's a ball ache, but there it is.

I don't know of a school that charges staff to park.

I think it is different from NHS staff or other council or public sector workers a) teachers carry around so much stuff for marking and planning that it would be near impossible to use public transport and b) hospitals and councils are usually in city centres or on bus routes. A large percentage of schools aren't; they're in the middle of nowhere, or the middle of estates or in villages with no public transport. I couldn't have got to my last school school without a car unless I'd set off the night before, slept in the train station and then walked the last seven miles anyway (school buses contracted for kids but no public transport until 10am!)

I work at a hospital and have to pay for a permit for a car park that is often too full to actually park in.
Despite this I think it is different for a school where A) teachers have a lot marking to move about and b) the spaces are not at a premium.
Parents parking at school for free is a different matter though.

Thank you for all your thoughts. I was offered the job and turned it down.

Did you turn it down purely because of the parking situation? If so, did you let them know that was the reason?

Because of a parking charge?

thats capitalism in action. op is in demand. she wants better conditions. hardly any school is that tight, probably a good decision

Did you turn it down purely because of the parking situation? If so, did you let them know that was the reason?

I turned it down because an elderly teacher with a walking stick struggling to get two bags of marking over the pedestrian bridge because she had parked on the other side of a busy road. There were empty spaces in the car park.

I don't think that SMT have the right priorities.

Yes I told them why.

Well done for telling them. What did they say?

Good for you. If the system is like that, you probably wouldn't get on well with the SMT>

I've bought 6 x 2l bottles of water to take in to school tomorrow as we'll be on the field - not charging, it's for the children. Certainly wouldn't do that if I had to pay to park or carry it! Will also have 60 exercise books with me, 8 giant cardboard tubes I blagged from Dunelm and my usual rubbish. And I'll need to be smart enough to interview prospective support staff.

Incidentally, I have a surgeon friend who has been called out of theatre to move his car as his parking had expired. Guess what he said? I think it's equally ridiculous that NHS friends are expected to use public transport (scant service in the sticks round here) if they live nearer than 3 miles - even if on an early or night shift.

DH gets proper coffee, soft drinks and fruit at work. Oh, and he gets a proper salary too.

I work for the NHS and have always paid for parking. If the car park is busy (most of the time) and we dump the car on the side of the road, on the hospital site, we get a parking ticket!

Surely if there ate empty spaces you pull in, drop off your hesvy load then go to park.

And isn't that mad Country?
Of course the main difference between paying for parking in a school and at a hospital is who is making you pay.
In a hospital the land is leased out to the NCP or whoever to run as a business and everyone gets charged... visitors and patients and also staff as there generally isn't anywhere free left to park.
In a school the school itself has decided to make money specifically out of staff. This would leave me wondering how else they were going to make sure they get their pound of flesh from staff. Given that it is well known that teachers spend a fortune on books and resources for their own classrooms this is going to erode at good will. Without good will schools are in a dangerous position.

I don't work in the town where I live either. I work in a public sector job and have always had to pay for my own parking. I get that's it's annoying but the reality is that most people do have to pay parking (or bus/train fare) to get to work

Strawberry I don't think it's paying for parking in itself that's the issue. It's how this has come about, basically for the school to make money out of the staff.

It would put me off taking a job at a school.

hospitals and councils are usually in city centres or on bus routes. A large percentage of schools aren't; they're in the middle of nowhere, or the middle of estates or in villages with no public transport. I couldn't have got to my last school school without a car unless I'd set off the night before, slept in the train station and then walked the last seven miles anyway (school buses contracted for kids but no public transport until 10am!)

Haha. Don't make me laugh. Yes every hospital I've worked at is on a bus route... Shame those buses don't run in conjunction with shift start times and finish times. I have to pay for taxis or beg for lifts multiple times a week because the buses are so shit. And that's still cheaper than paying for a parking permit that doesnt guarantee a space.

Still I agree with others that teachers paying for parking on school owned property is pretty shit.

Is it part of the workplace parking levy thing some areas have?its council run?? Just a thought

No parking at all at my school. For anybody. We can park on local roads, though the uncontrolled ones are big hills. Close by though. Or you can park at the ones with machines and pay but they re restricted hours.

I have a parking permit free from school due to medical reasons but we only get given about 5 or 6 of those each year for the whole school.

Dh's work (non school) doesn't have a car park and nearest ones are NCP. For those without a permit (only given as part of salary package for high up) it can be a costly few thousand each year to park there.

I don't see free parking as a right for work. I just see it as an added bonus if you do get it.

I can see this happening at my kids school, not only to raise funds but also to keep parents from coming into the school for ages at a time. If they had to pay 20p per 5 mins then they'd certainly get their arses home rather than hanging about the place for hours.

Good on you OP, hopefully that has sent a strong message.
If the land is school-owned and it's simply profiteering then I'd have withdrawn too.