Royal Shrewsbury Hospital staff fined for parking in visitors' spaces

Now staff at Shropshire's two acute hospitals are being urged to contact attendants if they are having trouble with parking.

One member of staff claimed that she could not find a space in the designated staff car parking, so parked instead in a visitors' car park, removed her parking pass and, at the end of the day, paid the fee for parking, as someone visiting a relative at the hospital would do.

But she still faces a parking fine of £80, for not parking in staff bays. The other member of staff said they faced a similar situation.

The news was revealed in posts on Facebook, and the trust has said staff should use allocated spaces for "overflow" staff parking.

Julia Clarke, director of corporate governance at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “I would encourage our staff to contact our facilities’ department’s car parking team, if they wish to discuss the outcome of a parking charge notice appeal as we will do what we can to help. "However, parking on both hospital sites remains pressured and we must give priority to patients and visitors, many of whom are unable to walk great distances.

“We continue to explore ways to improve car parking at our hospitals as we appreciate it can be a challenge for patients, visitors and staff and we are looking at introducing ways of improving higher turnover of cars through the available space, to free up spaces for visitors to the trust.

“In the meantime we have allocated additional areas for ‘overflow’ staff parking when there is high demand and would encourage staff to use these.

“In cases where staff cannot find a parking space, they should always ask for help from CP Plus attendants, who will do their best to find or direct staff to areas where they can park.

“Wherever possible we encourage staff to use sustainable and active modes of transport. For example, staff are encouraged to lift share wherever possible using our system where staff can share a lift to or from work with other people who work at the trust.

“We have also invested in secure cycle shelters and changing facilities at both hospital sites and now over 200 staff regularly cycle to work. We have also negotiated SaTH Employee Travel Club discounted tickets for our staff with Arriva buses, which operates services to both hospital sites.”