Nottingham City Hospital: Residents stage bin protest in parking row

Glynis Brealey said there were about 30 cars parked along the road on a week day

People living near a hospital in Nottingham have started using wheelie bins to stop staff, patients and visitors parking outside their homes.

Residents of Alderton Road in Sherwood said driveways were repeatedly being blocked by people using their road to avoid City Hospital's parking charges.

The cost of parking at the hospital has risen to £8 for eight hours or more.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust apologised to residents and said it did not condone illegal parking.

Nottingham City Council said it had not received a complaint about Alderton Road in years

David, who lives on the street, is among those using their wheelie bins to block potential spaces.

"When my brother-in-law comes and he can't park, he has to park right up the road," he told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"When we go shopping we have to have taxis and no taxis can get in.

"My son has just had a [heart] bypass and has to have an ambulance and they have to park across the road so that's why we're doing it."

'Can't get in'

Glynis, who also lives in Alderton Road, is not joining in with the bin protest but can understand why others are.

"It's stopping people getting out their drives," she said.

"There used to be like four or five cars on this street in the week, now there's 30.

"We've been blocked in before and if we go out at 08:00 then we can't get back in."

Nottingham University Hospitals said staff had access to a range of subsidised travel options

Jennifer Ogarro, who works in catering at the hospital, said: "I park in different places around the neighbourhood and the reason is because I can't get any parking at City Hospital.

"They won't give free parking and at the end of the day, everybody is trying to save some kind of money."

Nottingham City Transport (NCT) said access to Alderton Road had become a problem for its buses in recent weeks.

It said on a number of days the road was inaccessible due to the number of cars parked there.

An NUH spokesperson said: "We apologise to any residents who have been inconvenienced by staff parking on their streets.

"Staff who do not have a parking permit have access to a range of subsidised travel options.

"We do not condone any illegal parking and if legal offsite parking is absolutely necessary our expectations of staff is to always be considerate to those living there."

Nottingham City Council said it had not received a complaint about Alderton Road for more then two years.

It added it would only introduce a resident parking scheme if one was requested.