'Superheroes should not have to pay for parking': Pictures of frontline staff cars being clamped spark anger

Hospital groups have been called on to stop doctors and nurses from being clamped.

Pictures have emerged of nurses returning to their cars after long shifts to find their cars clamped.

The actions by the companies involved have sparked anger, especially as medics will be among the main frontline staff fighting Covid-19.

As well as calls to end clamping, there have also been calls for parking charges to be waived for medics. Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan wrote to St Vincent’s Hospital chiefs requesting the charges be waived for healthcare workers.

“A partner of a nurse who works in St Vincent’s Hospital reached out to me over the weekend explaining her concern that the nurse was spending €15 a day in parking,” he said.

“This was on top of the 36-hour shift that she had put in over three consecutive days.

“The Taoiseach captured the mood of the nation describing our health care staff as superheroes. In my view, superheroes should not have to pay for parking,” he said.

“We need to do all we can to make the lives of the thousands of healthcare workers across Ireland that little bit easier. This is one small way in which it could be done in Vincent’s hospital and other hospitals around the country.”

Nurses getting clamped at work in current crisis #Coronavirusireland @HSELive @SimonHarrisTD pic.twitter.com/z8ziasKIg4

— P 🇮🇪 #StandWithUkraine (@PMc276) March 17, 2020

He is to raise the issue with Dublin City Council.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is also going to raise the matter with health chiefs.