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DEFIANT residents have built a wheelie bin barricade to stop hospital workers parking outside their homes for free.
Alderton Road in Nottingham is currently the front line of a rubbish bin rebellion, as fuming locals make a desperate attempt to protect their patch.
Hospital workers park on Alderton Road to avoid parking charges[/caption]
The side street is just a 10 minute walk from the main entrance of bustling Nottingham City Hospital, meaning NHS workers often park there during shifts to avoid hefty £7 charges at work.
Drivers squeeze onto every inch of the long busy road in the Arnold suburb – which is also a bus route – crowding the kerbs, driveways and sometimes the small stretch of double yellow lines at one end.
But residents have had enough of strangers’ cars blocking their pavements and driveways, occasionally trapping them in.
So they’ve staged a protest – with their bins.
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The locals have put their green and brown wheelie bins out to barricade off their on-street parking spaces, forcing hospital workers to move elsewhere.
Resident Sharon Saunders said the situation was “a nightmare” as she was often blocked in by cars parking “bumper to bumper” right outside her drive way.
The mum-of-four is one of the new wheelie bin brigade who has been forced to put her trash container in the road – just to secure parking for herself or guarantee access to her own drive.
Sharon, 45, a call handler for a private ambulance service on behalf of the NHS, said: “I’ve put my bin out to stop drivers parking bang outside my house.
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“I have no choice because if I’m blocked in and can’t get my car out I can’t work.
“I’m part of the bin brigade, I’m not ashamed, and it’s working!”
But Sharon and her neighbours don’t blame the NHS workers at all, instead, they’re accusing Hospital bosses of “trying to rip staff off with ludicrous parking charges,” according to one.
Sharon added: “It’s a nightmare for residents and for the hospital staff.
“I have sympathy for them being charged silly amounts to park do a day’s work.
“That’s why a lot of them park in our street and walk up the hill to work.
“You can’t blame them really as it’s free but their vehicles are left parked up all day and sometimes night.”
Rachel Townsend, who lives on the road on the Edwards Lane council estate, is also outraged by the hospital’s high car park prices.
She said: “People are parking here who work at the hospital but I feel sorry for the staff.
“But it’s a no win situation for residents and workers. Everyone is losing out.
“The hospital should make it free for their staff to park, like other companies, or lower the rate.”
She added: “My neighbour’s disabled and needs regular access to taxis which sometimes can’t stop outside her house and she finds that quite challenging.”
Charging staff to work at the hospital should not be happening
Jane Gisby
Couple Robert and Jane Gisby have a double drive with two cars and often find themselves blocked in.
They joined the chorus in speaking out against the hospital’s parking fees.
Jane, a retired NHS housekeeper, said: “Charging staff to work at the hospital should not be happening.”
While her husband chimed in, saying: “During the pandemic, hospital staff had free parking but now they charge again and it’s £7 a day.
“Maybe residents’ permits wound help ease the problem.
“Some of our neighbours are putting their bins and no wonder but I don’t think it is legal and we’re not doing it.”
Other residents are also divided on whether or not to join the forces of the bin brigade.
One neighbour, swimming teacher Beverley Brereton said: “I wouldn’t put my wheelie bin out personally because it’s a bus route and so think it is dangerous but other residents do. It’s their choice.”
Cost controller Keith Potton disagreed, saying : “I’m not part of the bin brigade but many of my neighbours are and I don’t blame them.
“It’s very unorthodox but people are entitled to park in front of their own property without fear if done one else jumping in.”
NHS worker Jennifer Ogarro parked at one end of Alderton Road to walk to her shift at the nearby hospital today.
She told The Sun Online: “It’s totally wrong for staff to have to pay for parking. The money comes from my salary.
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“Parking is £7 a day and I can’t afford it so I park up in the street and walk to walk.
“It is unfair to us and it is unfair to the neighbours.”
Cars block both sides of Alderton Road[/caption]
The hospital car park is always heaving[/caption]
Keith Potton, 53, backs up his neighbours in the bin brigade[/caption]
Beverley Brereton, 53, say’s she can see it from both sides[/caption]
But NHS worker Jennifer Ogarro cannot afford to pay for the hospital’s car park every day[/caption]
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