Outrage over parking fines for NHS workers

Thousands of NHS staff have been handed parking fines while at work, new figures suggest.

Data from just 17 NHS trusts show that more than 25,000 fines have been given to NHS workers during 2024, according to data obtained by Channel 4 News FactCheck.

Leading nurses said that staff are “regularly being fined for being at work”.

Many organisations were not able to provide information because third-party providers deal with their parking fines.

Others said they did not differentiate between staff and patient or visitor fines.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) called on the Government to ensure staff have “safe and cost-effective parking or travel means”.

Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England, told Channel 4: “It’s really shocking to see it laid out like that, to see the scale of it across only 17 trusts – and imagine what that looks like when you multiply that by the 300-plus trusts that there are in England.

“It really is of concern to think that nurses are regularly, it would appear, being fined for being at work.

“Our absolute clear message to both the Government and to trusts themselves is they should be providing safe, cost-effective parking or travel means so that everyone can get to work without worry and without actually it costing them an extortionate amount.”

One neonatal nurse, Lisa Duggan, told Channel 4 that she was fined after being unable to park in one of the staff car parks at her hospital, which she has a permit for.

In order to get to her shift on time she used one of the other car parks at her hospital.

Even though she had her staff parking permit on display, she was handed a fine.

And because of delays while trying to contest the ticket with a third-party parking operator, Ms Duggan ended up paying nearly £300.

“I don’t think there’s any care and compassion,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s fair for staff to be put in this situation.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Free parking is available for those in greatest need, including all NHS staff who work overnight.

“While hospital car park charges are the responsibility of individual NHS trusts, we expect all charges to be reasonable and in line with the local area.

“Exploitation or mistreatment of hardworking NHS staff is unacceptable.”