I'm not allowed to park at work anymore!

[Carrie370]

I just wrote a huge long thread which has disappeared ... I'll summarise, as I just can't type it all out again!

The hospital where I work has just changed its car parking policy because it has sold off so much parking land, it can't accommodate all the cars any more. Although I provide emergency on call cover, this is the same day each week, so I only qualify for one day permits, not the general permit I have had (until now) for the last 16 years.

So ... my application has been refused. I am going to appeal, because I cannot, as has been suggested, take the park and ride to work - I have 2 primary school age children, I'm a single parent, and I cannot reconcile my childcare responsibilities with fulfilling my contract (as I have successfully managed for the last 10 years)

I have spent hours on the Internet, trying to find legislation to back up my appeal, but nothing under any discrimination/equality and diversity/family rights/employment law seems to come anywhere near fitting my circumstances. Anyone out there with ideas?!

Why should you be allowed free parking? Lots of us don't get free parking on site. We have to park elsewhere and walk.

Do a search on here, we had this a few months ago. I think the conclusion was there was nothing legislation wise to help you.

Lots of suggestions were made though - finding a parking space nearer and walking the last bit.

I don't understand the 'one day permit' thing - does that mean you will get a permit when you actually go in to work ?

Is there no parking locally?

Skirt its about changing contract terms,it maybe OP may not have felt able to accept this post without the space.

Ah, if its a contract term then fair point. I've never worked anywhere where a right to a parking space was a contract term though, that's my confusion.

If you still have one day parking permits, does this cause you any problems?

Well it can be custom and practice, for example, I have a free space, there is nowhere in a 5 mile radius to park, (duel carriageway), to use public transport means, 2 buses and a train and up to 2 hours.

If there was no space, I wouldnt have even applied for the job.

I've been in the same job for 16 years. I have always been allowed to park on site, until recently. Skirt no one who has a permit has to pay for it, it's about who meets the criteria. Because it's a hospital, most of those who do are shift workers on irregular hours which include hours outside 0700 - 2000. My duties include those hours, but only when I am on call (I am a hospital consultant) and at those times I am allowed to park. It is the rest of my working time that is a problem for me. HaLaMa I would not be able to accept the post if I were to apply for it now - back when I did, firstly I didn't have chidren, and secondly, parking was not an issue.

The hospital is in the middle of a town, so there is no parking within reasonable walking distance that is not resident only.

Thanks Laurie I will have a look back through old threads.

this may be a breach of your contract (under which you have had an implied right to free parking for the last 16 years). It may also be indirect discrimination on the grounds of your sex. (there is a provision criterion or practice - about parking, which has a greater an adverse impact on a protected group of employees (part timers - usually women) and is to your own disadvantage.)

the question then is can it be justified.

any good?

Annoying as it is, if you can't get a parking permit then there are ways round this. Park a little further out and cycle the rest (a fold-up bike so that you don't have to faff about with bike racks etc. Not all fold up bikes are Brompton money - there are some secondhand cheaper models on ebay for under £100)

I do a combination of parking and walking, parking and cycling and bus. The fastest is parking and cycling- and because of 4pm city centre crazy traffic, I can be back at the car and on my way with no loss of time compared to driving from work.

thereonthestair those are the lines i'm thinking along. It's all complicated - I can't do my job in the way I have been used to doing because of a change in policy. I wouldn't even mind a (reasonable) charge for parking, however the hospital have declared it is free for all employees.

Frazzled annoying it certainly is - but actually more than annoying. My finely-balanced juggling is about to come crashing down. Anything that adds any extra time to my journey, even 10 minutes, will make me late for work. As I am the person in charge of the team, this would have a catastrophic effect on the running of the day's work. My manager is backing me in this.

I do realise that an option is to get pre-school childcare - I am VERY, VERY reluctant to do this, as my children's lives are already disrupted enough by their fragmented family. It's very hard.

Are you saying you will only get a permit for the day/days you're on call and other days you are in work but don't get a permit?

How many days a week will this affect you? Can you get a taxi on those days?

Sympathies Carrie but I doubt there is anything you can do about it other than get childcare.
Being NHS, most employees will be women with children and probably most of them will struggle to afford it

laurie I am on call every 3rd Tuesday and every 12th weekend. For these days I can get a permit. The other days I am in work, but I'm not allowed to park; this is Monday, every Tuesday other than the ones I am on call, Wed and Thurs mornings, and alternate Friday mornings. Taxis would be a possibility, but since I live rurally and 9 miles from work (another reason why 'alternative transport' is not an option), very expensive. Finally it's not a question of affording childcare; I could probably afford it, but to the detriment of my children, who are used to me working in the pattern I have done all their lives, and on which basis I have stayed in the same job, with the same 'perks'/conditions for all the years I have been allowed to park at my place of work.

Ok, but it would be cheaper to drive to the outskirts of town or a taxi office and get a taxi in for the last bit - that will be much cheaper. I used to do this as there was no parking where I worked. You may find that you only have to do it on the way in and someone finishing at the same time as you might give you a lift back to your car.

Whatever you do there is either going to be a financial or emotional cost and I'm guessing from what you said (and the fact you're a consultant) you will probably try and afford the financial rather than disrupt the children.

2 other suggestions - put an email out to all staff and see if anyone close has a parking space at their house - you could rent it for the year.

Don't discount long term parking in the city centre - there may be an ncp type place where you can rent a space long term.

With only a bit of training and fitness you could cycle 9 miles in 40 minutes. My shorter cycle commute is 9 miles and my longer is 12 miles. It very quickly becomes routine and not at all tiring or daunting.

Laurie and Thistledew thank you for your suggestions. My problem is that my timing is so tight - driving my car to work means that I can 'hit the ground running' when I get there (and this works so well). Any extra travel time would mean that my carefully constructed edifice, from many years' tweaking, would crumble. I am just so angry that I have managed this for years, and one mandate has wrecked it all.

I was a single parent working longish hours,I could never have managed without my space.

Thank you Whatnamethistime, it's tough. I feel that at my time of life/stage of career I shouldn't be having to tackle this!

Ask to change your hours to a later start time and tell your employer why

I too could not manage without a parking permit (although am jealous as I pay for mine). I commute 65 miles one way so would not be able to get to work on time with dropping my DS off at a ridiculously early time anyway

Am confused as to how they could possibly say you're not entitled to a permit though? By your post you're working a four day week plus on calls? What is happening to nurses who work LTFT? I was hoping by the time I hit consultancy I'd get my own parking space :)

that's a good idea,essential as I'm in charge of an operating list when I'm at work, and it would definitely cause major disruption. It's a threat I could use, although then I'd be in breach of contract.

Yeah, They are being totally 'PC' in covering all the bases - apart from single working mothers in positions of provision of senior medical services (unless on call), as far as I can see! Anyone who works an irregular shift pattern can have a permit - but that doesnt' include me!