NHS staff offered free parking after national outcry

NHS staff, including volunteers and social care workers, will also benefit from free street parking and use of car parks thanks to a deal with the Local Government Association (LGA).

The move comes after 400,000 people signed a petition calling for the measure.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Our NHS is facing an unprecedented challenge, and I will do everything I can to ensure our dedicated staff have whatever they need during this unprecedented time.

“So we will provide free car parking for our NHS staff who are going above and beyond every day in hospitals across England.”

The government has invited hospital trusts to take up their offer of covering costs as a thank you to key workers.

Mr Hancock said: “My enormous gratitude goes out to the many NHS Trusts and other organisations already providing free car parking and I urge other Trusts to do the same with our backing.”

The LGA is asking councils to waive fines received by health and social care workers while carrying out their duties.

Chairman Cllr James Jamieson, said: “Already, many councils have suspended parking charges in council-run car parks and for on-street parking and have waived all fines on appeal for critical workers.

“'These critical workers are all doing vital and highly valued work to support the most vulnerable in our society and councils want to do all they can to support them.”

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Councils will provide NHS staff, care workers and volunteers with suitable evidence they can display in their windscreen to avoid parking tickets.

Hospitals across Britain are likely to need additional parking after 750,000 people volunteered to help the NHS following a Government appeal¹.

The Health Secretary has asked the good Samaritans to ferry passengers to hospital and bring food and medicine to those isolated.

Free parking arrangements will be welcomed by Dr Mehdi Veisi, the medical director who left a sarcastic message on Twitter after receiving a ticket with his NHS badge on display.

Thank you @haringeycouncil for giving me a ticket whilst I’m fighting @#COVIDー19. You could see my NHS emergency badge too. Nicely done. Instead of saving patients, now I need to appeal a ticket. Get your priorities right for NHS Staff pic.twitter.com/sC1sFjd9gw

— Mehdi Veisi ‏����‍♀️xx����xx����‍♂️ (@DrVeisi) March 23, 2020

The doctor feared he wouldn’t have time to appeal the ticket, which has since been scrapped by Haringey Council.

Those hoping to challenge an unfair ticket can benefit from the Parking (Code of Practice) Act, which includes measures to improve the appeals service.

The Parking (Code of Practice) Act became law in 2019 following the RAC’s efforts to make the parking system fairer to motorists.

The RAC is still here for customers' essential journeys wherever they break down. For the latest information on our service, read our response to COVID-19 page.

If you have more questions about what the outbreak means for you, we've done our best to answer any questions you may have about driving and using your car during the coronavirus outbreak.