This petition aims to result in an agreement between the University of Stirling and SmartParking/NHS Forth Valley that Student Nurses have somewhere safe to park during placement at Forth Valley Royal Hospital (Scotland).

This is an issue which greatly affects student nurses and midwives in our area. The current situation is student nurses are not permitted to park anywhere on hospital grounds and/or the surrounding areas. Student nurses vehicles have been attacked by locals after parking in residential areas. Such attacks have included cars being "keyed" and had paint thrown on them, in conjunction with being subject to verbal abuse by these homeowners. This has widely resulted in fear, particularly for students travelling alone and working unsociable hours such as night shift (typically 7pm-7am) or late shifts (finishing at 9pm approximately). It is simply a wholly UNSAFE situation for students to be in. Consequently, students have been parking within hospital grounds.

Smart Parking is a private company which operates within the hospital grounds. Their parking charge notices (PCN's) are entirely unenforceable and have no affiliation with either the local authorities or NHS Forth Valley. However, they continue to send letters threatening legal action against anyone issued with a ticket. My personal experience with this company was diabolical; I was threatened that if I did not pay £800 by 5pm that evening, I would be pursued in court. This was in addition to harassing phone calls, constant threat of legal action and being contacted by a debt collector's service. It caused intolerable stress and anxiety. Unfortunately my experience is not an isolated incident and is one also experienced by fellow colleagues.

It is unacceptable that Student Nurses and Midwives should be faced with such harassment in order to complete a placement in training to be Staff Nurses; a role in which arguably the main driving factor is to care for others in the local community. It is not unfair to comment that this does in fact put them in a vulnerable, dangerous and stressful situation.

Please help local students to make a meaningful change to this predicament today by signing this petition. It is unfair that they should be subject to this behaviour in order to complete their training in a caring profession. Your support is greatly appreciated. On behalf of local student nurses and midwives, thank you for reading this petition.