ANGRY workers at the Alexandra Hospital have not ruled out industrial action after plans to introduce charges for the staff car park were unveiled.

Ballot papers were given to staff at the Redditch hospital, many of them from Bromsgrove, to choose which option of payment they preferred.

Option A is a salary-related band option ranging from £25-£240 per year depending on earnings. Option B is a fixed price annual payment of £130. But there is a lot of concern that the cash won't be enough to cover the charges.

One member of staff, who didn't want to be identified, said: "I cannot believe it. There are a lot of unhappy staff who think they will be ripped off.

"Even though we have been given ballot papers, I still can't see our opinion making any difference."

Unison branch secretary Nina Wood-Ford said hospital bosses had turned down a request for a separate box to vote for industrial action in protest at the car parking charges.

But, she said, many members of staff had not ticked option A or B and instead had developed their own Option C saying they were not going to pay.

She added they had negotiated long and hard with hospital bosses for a fair deal and to ensure staff were guaranteed a space and not one on a muddy bank or on the pavement.

Mrs Wood-Ford said: "If enough people say they object to paying we would take that as a third option and we would look at it again. We would have to call a meeting to decide what we were going to do and we would only go further if people were prepared to take industrial action. Option C would be industrial action."

A spokesperson for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Charges are being introduced as the hospital sites are unable to cope with the relentless increase by car users.

"We have exhausted the majority of land available for car parking and the cost of maintaining and providing new car parking is a serious drain on the trust's finances."

The ballot closed on Monday but the results are not yet known.

christopher.flavell@midlands.

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