NHS worker left 'sinister' note after parking in street near hospital

An NHS worker who was unable to park at the hospital she works at was left "frightened" after finding a sinister note on her car.

After a hard day's work, Rebecca Melvin returned to her car to find a piece of paper with the words "I expect not to see your car parked here again" written on it and attached to her windscreen.

The 60-year-old, who works as a receptionist in the maternity unit at Nottingham City Hospital, was saddened to find the note and says she "hasn't done anything wrong" as Madden Close in Bestwood, Nottinghamshire, is not private and she was not blocking anybody else's car.

Another colleague who parked next to Rebecca also received the same note, reports Nottinghamshire Live.

Many members of staff are forced to find alternative places to park close to the hospital due to parking "restrictions" and the sheer number of other people who need to use the car park.

Rebecca has said workers who live within 10 miles of the hospital cannot use the car park, as others who live further away get priority.

Yet, despite living around three miles away, in Gedling, Rebecca says there is no useful bus route from her house to where she works.

She has tried many nearby streets over the years, but has found it difficult to find places to park that have not led to problems with residents.

She said: "The parking is an absolute nightmare. The rule is, I think it's 10 miles, if you live within so many miles of the hospital then you can't park there if you're staff.

"I live in Gedling, so only around three miles away, but there's no bus near where I live to take me from my house up to that side of town where the hospital is.

"So I'm not allowed to park because there are so many people who live further out - they give them priority.

"A lady that used to work in our place lived in a house [where I parked] and she said if you park up one of them side streets you can park up there and then just walk through a little jitty way and you're about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the hospital.

"So I've been parking up there maybe for about a year.

"I'm not in front of anybody's house, I'm not on anyone's driveway. It's just literally at the side of the houses - on that road there must only be about four or five cars.

"I'm not in anybody's way whatsoever. One other lady from the hospital parked just behind me.

"And when we both got there on Monday I'd had that note on my car and she'd had the same note on her car.

"It's sinister. I'm frightened to leave my car there. To think that you're providing an NHS service and doctors, nurses, lots of us that work at the hospital can't park there.

"And we're all parking here there and everywhere and everybody - all the residents - keep making each area that you park in private parking - but what do you do? People expect the doctors to be there, the admin staff to be there, but how can you be there if you can't park your car there? What upset me is that I thought 'who are you to tell me that I can't park, I'm not doing anything wrong'.

"I'm parking on a little side street that nobody else is on to provide a service to people that are ill."

Residents who live around Madden Close, where Rebecca had parked her car, were alarmed to hear the note was left on her car.

One man called out "vigilantes" who take action in their own hands.

Salam Khoury, 68, who lives nearby and works as a biotechnologist, said: "I don't drive myself so I've not had any problems or heard any complaints about people parking - there aren't that many cars though so I don't see why people would be mad. I don't know why people are inclined to act as if they are vigilantes.

"A lot of people seem to want to take action into their own hands, especially these days. When I was younger we didn't even have the word activist.

"There are ways to educate people. Now, there are right ways to do it and wrong ways to do it.

"Some people will do it with conversations but others will put threatening notes on people's cars.

"Some people will do it by any means necessary. I don't think that this is the way to go about it."

Jen Pimbleton, 53, said: "That is alarming! We've got a few people around here who work at the City Hospital. I can't say I saw anything like that at all as.

"This is a nice neighbourhood and that's quite extreme. I wouldn't say that there are issues with too many people parking on our streets.

"But people do get touchy about that sort of thing and I wouldn't be overly surprised if someone did it.

"It doesn't bother me where people want to park and I think it's dead wrong that anyone would react that way.

"That's not the way people should behave really."

A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We do understand how challenging parking at hospitals can be and the anxiety it can cause staff, patients and visitors.

"This is why we have been working to improve our offer with new automated barriers and a new permit application system for staff which has been designed following staff engagement around what criteria should be used when assessing applications.

"We have also been remarking car parks to increase the number spaces.

"There ultimately remains too few spaces for the amount of staff, patients and visitors which is why we also offer a range of alternative travel options for staff including our free Medilink Bus service, discounted tickets for trams, trains and buses as well as a cycle to work scheme."