Car Parking Fees introduced by Employer

H2GGA

I apologise if this has been covered elsewhere in which case redirection would be good.

My wife, who works at a hospital, has recently had car parking fees enforced on her parking at work. Basically she will now pay £1 per day for up to six days in a working fortnight. Only Monday to Friday qualify so she has to find alternative arrangements for the other four days of the fortnight. As she works shift hours it is impractical for her to travel in other than her own car (car sharing and public transport were put forward as the alternative both of which have inbuilt challenges as she works non-standard hours and will have to walk a third of a mile via an underpass in the dark to catch a bus, and would also mean changing buses whilst en-route). However, if she does go to work in her own car, she will have to pay £7.40 per day for the other four days in the fortnight, making a total car parking outlay of £35.60 per fortnight. Previously the hospital had deducted £5 per month from her salary for parking on the hospital premises. Quite a difference!

So my question is, can she claim any tax relief on these extra costs?

McKneff

In word no, not if she is an employee.

lincroft1710

H2GGA wrote: »

So my question is, can she claim any tax relief on these extra costs?

On that basis, virtually every employee who drives to work and has to pay to park could claim.

agrinnall

I'm not sure I fully understand what's happened, are you saying that hospital rules now only allow her to park there for £1 on 6 days per fortnight and for the other 4 days she can park there but has to pay the normal daily charge? Have they done that to try to encourage people to use alternatives to driving on the 4 days?

Could she drive part of the way, park somewhere free or cheaper, and take a bus for the final part of the journey?

H2GGA

You are exactly correct in that the four non-subsidised days were done to encourage alternative methods in getting to work. I can appreciate all the answers to this in that she should not be entitled to claim anything. However it does seem a shame that employees take the brunt of what was basically poor management in not getting a properly sized car park in the first place as the hospital was only built around 5 years ago. Building a multi storey car park was dismissed through cost reasons so they have penalised staff by trying to enforce employees to travel to work by alternative means. No doubt green ones amongst us will applaud the action. My wife only works part time but will still pay the same amount for driving to work as a consultant. Nothing's very fair is it?

Mikeyorks

H2GGA wrote: »

Nothing's very fair is it?

Certainly true.

In the largest hospital around here - patients can't get into the car parks because of the hundreds of spaces taken up by staff.

Perhaps that's why they're trying to reduce staff vehicles.

le_loup

Most of us have to pay to park. Awful!

jimmo

It is just one of the ironies of our tax system that if an employer provides free, or subsidised, parking near the place of employment, the employees are exempt from tax on the benefit they receive whereas those who have to pay to park cannot claim tax relief on their costs.
Those that benefit will sympathise with the OP. Those that don't will be jealous that the OP's wife still gets a subsidy (tax free) part of the time.
By the way, my disabled wife has to attend outpatients on a pretty regular basis and the only solution for her is that I drive her to the hospital, drop her off, stay in the car and look for somewhere to park. More often than not, she returns from her appointment before I have found a space. However, only last week, more than 30 people suddenly appeared in the car park from all directions, bought tickets from the machines and put them in their cars and disappeared again. 5 minutes later, a "warden" turned up.
Parking at hospitals is a huge problem, but not a tax problem.

getmore4less

What about just going parttime and/or moving to only doing long days

They are going to have fun getting people to cover shifts.

Everyone has to say no because of the parking charges.

John_Pierpoint

Call me cynical, but the hospital can sell parking places to the relatives of patients at the weekend for £7.50 (probably more by the hour?) so why should they sell the same facility to the staff for a quid or so.
I think I would use a small motorbike or even a pushbike..

heretolearn_2

Is there nowhere she can park near the hospital? Street parking? Non-hospital carpark? Even if it's a bit of a walk it's better than paying that per day.

However it averages out to £3.50 per day, which is pretty standard for all day parking. The only car park near my office that lets you stay all day charges £4.