University of Birmingham car parking

Car Parking has become so difficult during early morning and is adding another 30 mins to my day just looking for parking. The university should make a determined effort to provide more spaces aorund campus as well as ensure that spaces are being used appropriately (for instance it seems a lot of the parking during the last few weeks on the lower ground floor has been taken up by construction workers).

I am struggling to find a car parking space EVERY morning! I cannot come in any earlier than I do as I have outside of work commitments. How can we start work at the time we should if there is no parking? What shall we do if there's no parking? Go back home? Will University still pay us if we cant work as no parking?

Extra parking needs sorting for staff. Its not good being stressed before you start work.

No doubt, the University will say that staff should use bicycles and public transport to get to work. However, that is all well and good for some staff, but for anyone with caring duties (no matter what age or seniority), not being able to get in into work reliably is making things impossible. Public transport is not reliable enough to guarantee a get-home time (and occasionally getting home at all) for dependents to relie on. And even though I do get in by train, I have to get to the station at a certain time or won't be able to park there (as my station is neither in walking distance from my home nor is there a bus connection, and I live only 8 miles from the University). Can the University address their general staff transportation issue, please!

Another disgruntled parent here who lives outside Birmingham and who somehow has to fit in the school run with finding a car parking space at work, the latter of which is by far the most stressful! It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to allocate around an hour of my busy mornings to finding a parking space at my place of work!! The longest it has taken me to find a car space is well over an hour, and it was only because I didn’t have any meetings that morning and I had swiped in and already paid for the space that I persevered. In actual fact I should have just given up and parked outside some unfortunate soul’s house in Selly Oak where the roads are becoming increasingly jam-packed by UoB staff who have likely already paid for their spaces too. I bet the University is raking it in while refusing to invest in sufficient parking facilities for its undervalued staff. On top of all this, the biggest kick in the teeth is the militant policing of the car parking by UPC, who have fined me twice for parking outside of a (non-existent) bay that I’ve ALREADY PAID FOR!! On both these occasions I had been driving around and around campus searching for that ever elusive space, and had simply run out of the time I had left myself (only half an hour, silly me) to find parking before my meeting started. I appealed these fines but of course the parking company could not care less that the University doesn’t provide anywhere near enough spaces for its staff to park in. They probably find this whole situation hilarious. I am lucky though in that I work from home most of the week; once my children started school full-time I was asked by a colleague whether I’d be working on campus more- I had to laugh at that as why would I want to pay for that kind of stress and hassle? It’s bad enough on the couple of days I do have to come onto campus, and it just puts you in a sour mood for the rest of day. The parking situation is an absolute disgrace, and one gets the feeling th

The traffic on the roads is increasing every year and this adds time to peoples journeys as it is but once you reach the university you don’t expect to have to search and wait, for quite some time, for a parking space. This does not help university productivity when your staff are getting in late due to parking, and already time consuming traffic, it leaves staff with less time flexibility for the University because they can only get in super early to get a parking space to then thus leave on time based on their get in time.

It is just ridiculous that if you arrive after 8.30 you struggle to find a space in the car park. For a working mother that has to drop off her kids and then has to make sure she manages to finish her work on time to go and pick them up, not finding a car park space adds so much stress unnecessarily. That is not very healthy and not very efficient either.

I generally travel in by train but on the few occasions I need to drive it is very hard to find a parking space. I feel for those who have no choice but to do that every day. For a university that claims it takes accessibility issues and flexible working conditions seriously, this is a major barrier. It will also frustrate people that colleagues who reach a sufficient level of seniority receive a reserved space in the Hills car park or Chancellors Court. The perception, rightly or wrongly, is that those who are in a position to take action are the same people who are immune to the effects of the problem. My view is that sufficient car parking is a basic, fundamental requirement, particularly for a site as large as ours. The Green Heart will look lovely, no doubt, but that is window dressing by comparison. It's difficult to fully get behind projects like that, however impressive they may look in a glossy prospectus, while such basic staff facilities are missing.

Over an hour spent trying to find a space one day due to getting in after 9am because of delays on the motorway.

Basically the current situation is that if you need to come to campus after 9:30am then forget it. You need to park in a side road at least 15 mins away and walk in or get a taxi. Just plain embarrassing when business partners visit :-(

I live in a rural area (over 30 miles away) with no transport links and normally park in Beech House car park. On occasions i arrive after 9:15 due to severe traffic and i have often had to resort to parking in Selly Oak or the surrounding area due to a lack of space in university designated car parks.

I normally travel in by train, and drive in only when there is serious rail disruption. Last time I did this - about a year ago - it took me much longer to find a parking space than I expected. All the correspondence here tells me that it is now even worse. The conclusion is this: When I really need a parking space if I am to perform my work duties, it's not going to be there and there is no point in even trying.

Well at least the Vice Chancellor has a reserved parking place. Bugger the rest of us.

I have a purple pass where a set payment comes out of my wages each month. this scheme was supposed to make parking easier, allowing me to park in purple zones around campus. I didn't mind paying the extra for when I am not here through sickness or working away from site, this was the price I was willing to pay to park after my 40 mile commute. Over the past months with carparks closing and more building works going up, when I start work later on Mondays and Tuesdays, it is near impossible to park anywhere on campus when I arrive at 0930hrs. This means that the money for my purple pass is still coming out of my wages but I am been forced to park off campus. Do I get a refund for these days, if not, is this fraud, by taking money off me and not providing the facilities, I would say it was. I live in a rural area with no public transport links, so I need to drive to work.

I come to work by train most days, but when I do need to bring the car it's usually pretty awful. Last time I drove around campus for nearly an hour looking for a space.

The first prize goes to... The University of Birmingham: Investors In Buildings, Not People

I find it appalling that University expects us to achieve high standards and doesn't provide very basic facilities. The parking at new sports complex is completely empty but not available for staff. The charges there are exorbitant.

The parking situation has become a joke. It's clear that the promise from management that all lost parking spaces would be replaced was a lie. Just one more way in which the University is making things worse for its staff. Sometimes I think management WANTS people to resign, so that they can make even more "vacancy savings" to plough into white elephants, vanity projects and senior staff salaries. Who needs happy, motivated staff when you can have a hotel and conference centre instead?

I travel 85 miles each way to get to and from work. With a combination of car and public transport that journey takes roughly 150 minutes. If I come by car it's around 120 minutes (on a good day). So, if I've made all that effort to get here for an 08:30 or 09:00 start to teach a class or attend a meeting I don't think it's too much to ask that I shouldn't have to add a further 30 minutes or so looking for a parking space.

Parking has become increasingly difficult over the years and is now nigh on impossible if I am not on campus before 8.30am. As well as this I pay parking fees as soon as I swipe my ID card but this is no guarantee of a parking space. On many occasions I and colleagues have then had to pay for alternative parking off campus on top of having paid for parking on campus to no avail which has also meant a late arrival at work even though we have been on University site well beforehand.