Parking Permits at Work

softngentle

Not sure this is in the right place or whether anyone will be able to advise, but heregoes..

My place of work recently changed its parking policy. Employees who wanted a permit were asked to complete an application which asked questions such as how far away from work you lived, engine size of car, alternative public transport available, child care commitments, health issues and any other info you wished to contribute.

There was a limited number of permits available and I was unsuccessful in getting one. They said the selection process was done on a scoring system, of which they seem unwilling to divulge the actual details. It seems that the people who were successful were the ones who had children or those who live a considerable distance from work.

I feel this will compromise my work life balance considerably. Having to use public transport will more than double my travelling time each day and in addition will result in me having to spend about £80 per month on fares, when running my car actually would have been cheaper.

I feel that I am being put at an unfair advantage simply because I don't have children and choose not to live an excessive distance from work. Is it fair that they can selectively discriminate in this way?

heretolearn_2

Well, they've got to allocate them somehow if there's not enough spaces. They've tried to be fair according to need, I suppose, although I'm not sure what relevance having children has to it. Presumably there are other places to park, whether paid for car park or some street parking somewhere? If there really isn't anywhere else then I can see the relevance to children.

They could have just picked names out of a hat and done it randomly. There still would be people without places though, and you might have been one of those.

Employers aren't required to provide you with parking in any case. I can't imagine any luck going down the discrimination route!

getmore4less

How was parking done before?

Where did people park before when the allocated places were all gone?

antrobus

softngentle wrote: »

I feel that I am being put at an unfair advantage simply because I don't have children and choose not to live an excessive distance from work. Is it fair that they can selectively discriminate in this way?

Sadly, I don't think that it matters one way or another. Had the company decided to offer car parking places on the basis of sex, race or whatever then that would be one thing, but in this case I don't believe that there is any legal remedy for whatever discrimination you may have suffered.

I would say that your only remedy is to find another job with a company that will give you a parking place. At which point you can hand your notice in and inform your current employers of the reason for your leaving.

vax2002

time for a new job...

softngentle

Thanks for the replies.

To the person who said "time for another job" you are completely right. I know to some the parking issue might seem a trivial matter, but just lately it's been one thing after another, restructure, redundancies, having to take on more responsibility for no more pay, it's just the pits. In some respects I tell myself in this climate I should be grateful for a job, but it feels like my organisation is taking the pee and the parking issues feels like one more nail in the coffin. Staff morale is at an all time low and most people would leave in an instant if they could.

To answer another question, before the change in policy, the car parking used to get done on a first come first served basis, which in my opinion was fairer than the new system. When spaces were gone people would have to find their own parking, there's a car park about a 10 minute walk away which costs about £6 per day, other than that there are limited street parking spaces, about a 20 minute walk away, which I have been doing since last week, but don't think I'll do when it starts to get dark as I won't feel safe.

If they had done the whole parking permit lottery by picking names out of a hat I think I could have accepted not getting one, but to select on certain criteria my perception of it (rightly or wrongly) is that it's unfair.

tizerbelle

Just a shot in the dark here but they could have been pushed into doing it this way because of a fear of a potential for sex-discrimination claims. Assuming it's a 9am start and operating a first come first served parking system could potentially mean that many people with children are never there early enough to get a parking space because they have to drop the kids off before they go to work and as the majority of primary carers are female this could potentially be pushed as sex discrimination.

Unfortunately for you that is irrelevant. The car park is the employers and they can decide who does or doesn't get to use it. As long as they haven't discriminated on any of the "protected characteristics" in statute there is nowt you can do.

I bet however those that have got a space believe it was a fair and equitable method of sorting the issue out.

misskool

can you lift-share with someone who has got a permit and who doesn't live so far from you?

browneyedbazzi

It does sound to me as if they have tried to be fair in allocating the parking spaces - sadly, it seems that people without children or other family commitments often end up with the short straw in these situations but I don't think it's done in an intentional/nasty way. They've tried to allocate the parking spaces to people with the greatest need and I expect most people would think that's the fairest system.

Plus, it could be worse. My former employer took car park spaces away from all employees unless they were essential car users and contractually required to have a vehicle at work. Those who lost parking spaces had to either travel my public transport (which wasn't possible for a lot of single mums etc who had to get kids to school then be at work for a set time, or those who lived in areas that didn't have access to decent public transport) or pay about £70 a month for a parking space on a public car park. Even essential car users who were given staff car park passes had to pay £30 a month!

When I received a job offer somewhere else that required me to have a car at work I made sure it was written into my contract that I would be provided with a car parking space!

Dizzy_Ditzy

sounds like you work in the same place as me!

sadly, the only thing you can do is suck it up :-(

Linus2864

This is a recurring issue at my workplace and I don't think a system will ever be found that everyone will be happy with.

We've now settled on a policy that those who use their car for their job have permanent permits and the remaining spaces are booked via an online booking calender. Priority for these is given to those who are using their car for work purposes on that day; this is probably fairest as it is a place of work after all.

For some reason though, it seems that the managers are always considered essential car users . . . .

However, as a rail commuter, it means I can enjoy standing at the window enjoying the arguments in the car park over who has taken whose space.