Nurse facing court over parking charge while treating sick child

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 21 Oct, 06:08 · Archive

A Dudley community nurse faces a court order and a £266 parking charge after exceeding the time limit while treating a sick child.

Community nurse Lisa Smith has been hit with a parking charge escalated to £266 and faces a court order after overrunning her allotted parking time while treating a sick child at a Birmingham flat. The home visit, which was covered by a 30-minute free parking pass, took longer than expected. Staff initially got no answer from the building's buzzer and had to wait to be let in, then had to climb five flights of stairs because the lifts were out of order.

Dudley MP Sonia Kumar has taken up Smith's case, arguing that the charge is unfair. 'Lisa was doing exactly what we ask of community nurses, caring for a sick baby at home, so the family didn't have to go into hospital,' Ms Kumar said. 'The lifts were broken. She climbed five floors to reach her patient. And for that, she is now facing court action. It's not good enough.'

Ms Kumar says a government parking charges crackdown is welcome but may come too late for Smith. In October, the government introduced a new Private Parking Code of Practice with measures including allowing five minutes to park and ten minutes to leave, plus new rights of appeal.

How it is being reported

• Andy Burnham government parking crackdown 'needed' says Dudley MP as nurse faces chargesNurse faces court order and parking penalty after going over time allowed as she treated sick childBirminghamLive · 21 Oct, 05:30
• Crackdown on parking charge rip-offs 'needed' but could be too late to help Dudley nurseNurse Lisa Smith fell foul of private parking pedantry while she was treating an acutely unwell childExpress & Star · 21 Oct, 02:00

In this story: Lisa Smith · Sonia Kumar · Dudley · Birmingham

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