Employer car parking charges for essential users - HELP

Kia99

Hi there,

Would appreciate some help. My employer is introducing car parking charges from 1st November for all staff. However, our department are 'essential users' meaning that in our Job Descriptions it states we must have a car to do the job becuase we visit customers and can get called out at any time.
The car park is over subscribed and so at present we have essential user bays which are kept free for us to park in when we get back from a visit. They are suggesting these bays will still exist but will be limited to 2 hours - so if I went on a visit first thing and got to work at 11 am I could only park til 1pm before having to find alternative parking in a car park which is full. Also, it is my responsibility to park my car so if I am spending work time trying to park I would have to make this time up or be disciplined.
We all said we would park 10 minutes away and tehn walk to our cars to get them for a visit. This was greeted with 'I don't pay you to walk'.

We therefore do not have the option not to bring our cars to the workplace and therefore must pay the charge.

Is there anything we can do?

vax2002

Yes tell them the car deal is over, you will go green and use public transport.

k3lvc

So what exactly are they going to do if you don't pay ?

Don't you just love the joined up thinking of some companies :rotfl:

DirtyDick

You could just ask how your employer reasonably (i.e. without it costing you) expects you to comply with this regulation, while at the same time maintaining or enhancing your efficiency.

Kia99

They are threatening to clamp us if we don't pay...it's not very well thought through, permits are not available yet and the charging starts from 1st November. They are even going to charge CUSTOMERS who we are tryign to encourage to spend thousands of punds with us...good businesss sense? I think not!

fivetide

Is it your car or a company car?

Not sure how that makes a difference but be interested to see what they'd do if they'd clamped all the team's cars and you had a call out... wonder which wone would be best on the revenue scale?


5t.

Kia99

They are our own cars. We are required to have business insurance which we pay for ourselves in order to go on visits so are already paying. I am just not sure how they can insist we bring the car to work and then charge us to park it?

Gloomendoom

My employer does this on the grounds that it is helping the environment. Anxious to do my bit for the planet, I now get a lift in and they have to provide me with transport if they want me to go anywhere.

OP, sad to say, it looks like the best option is to find another job.

gilbert_and_sullivan

You need a union, yes seriously, it's one of the things they are good at sorting out, assuming you elect someone who wants to do the best for their members and not feather their own nest.

If you don't stick together what happens when they decide later that the use of the car is part of your contract so they won't pay any allowances.

somethingcorporate

Gloomendoom wrote: »

My employer does this on the grounds that it is helping the environment. Anxious to do my bit for the planet, I now get a lift in and they have to provide me with transport if they want me to go anywhere.

OP, sad to say, it looks like the best option is to find another job.

You certainly live up to your username! That's a bit extreme over the sake of a couple of quid a day car parking charge.

vax2002

Sound to me they have had a visit from one of the private car parking companies with the free money sloshing figures.
It goes to peoples heads, free money, earn commission, ALL common sense goes right out of the window.