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Charlene Evans, a nurse who worked at Glangwili Hospital, received seven parking tickets over 18 months, as our Consumer Affairs Correspondent Kate Lewis reports.
A nurse has told ITV News that impossible parking conditions at a busy west Wales hospital left her in tears, facing hundreds of pounds in parking charges and eventually a County Court Judgment.
Charlene Evans, who previously worked as an agency nurse at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, says parking difficulties regularly affected her before she had even started work.
Ms Evans told ITV News the parking conditions regularly caused her emotional distress, with the demand for a space frequently outstripping supply.
She said: “I was crying. I can’t find a space. I was phoning the department that I was scheduled to work in, saying I can’t find anything, ready to go home and then thinking I can’t go home, this is my only income, I need to feed my children.”
Over an 18-month period, the agency nurse received seven parking charge notices worth £50 each.
When asked how she felt when she found the notices on her car after finishing shifts, Charlene said: “Deflated. You’ve given your all to look after somebody, to keep people alive, to get them home safely, support family members if they’ve lost loved ones and you get out and you’ve got this car park ticket on your window for doing all that and it’s just like, really?”
In the end the charges totalled £350.
Charlene was left in tears from the stress of the hospital parking conditions at Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales
Ms Evans told ITV News she believed the charges had been issued unfairly and contacted the parking operator, GroupNexus, to challenge them.
The company did not accept her appeal and the dispute escalated.
The debt eventually rose to around £1,200 and a County Court Judgment (CCJ) was issued against her, a ruling that can have serious consequences for a person’s credit record.
At that point, Ms Evans decided to challenge the matter through the courts but was faced with a difficult decision. She explained: “The company stated that if I paid the original car parking charges they would remove the CCJ, so I felt like I was between a rock and a hard place, so I paid the initial charges.”
However, she later decided to continue pursuing the matter and represented herself in court.
A judge subsequently ordered that the money she had paid be refunded.
Ms Evans believes the outcome was important not only for herself but for others who may have found themselves in similar situations.
“I was absolutely adamant that this was done unfairly and not just to myself but to so many other people,” she said.
Ms Evans told ITV News she believed the charges had been issued unfairly, totalling £350. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales
In a statement, the parking company said: “GroupNexus accepts the court’s decision in this case. We will be paying the ordered refund as directed.
“However, we want to clarify the actual nature of this case. Ms Evans did not sue GroupNexus. She successfully applied to set aside a previous judgment that she hadn’t originally defended.
“The judge ordered a refund of the fees because they felt our initial claim paperwork didn’t contain enough information.
“Crucially, the judge explicitly acknowledged that our parking terms and conditions had been broken, and as a result chose not to award Ms Evans any court costs or loss of earnings.”
The company added that it remains committed to keeping parking at Glangwili Hospital “fair and manageable”.
Hospital car parks are often managed by private parking companies because of the high demand for spaces and the need to keep roads, drop-off zones and emergency access routes clear.
The British Parking Association, which represents the parking sector, has previously said enforcement plays an important role in ensuring spaces remain available for those who genuinely need them, including patients, visitors and healthcare workers.
Without parking controls, operators argue that hospital car parks can quickly become overwhelmed by commuters or motorists with no connection to the hospital, making it harder for patients and staff to access services.
But critics say enforcement systems can leave frontline healthcare workers caught between strict parking rules and the realities of overcrowded hospital sites where spaces are simply unavailable.
Around 1,000 patients visit the Glangwili site every day, alongside hundreds of staff and visitors. Credit: ITV Cymru Wales
Looking at the wider issue of parking Lisa Webb, Consumer Law Expert at Which?, warned costs can quickly escalate if individuals ignore parking charges and subsequently cases progress through debt collection or the courts.
“If you genuinely think that you don’t deserve that charge, then you should be appealing it,” she said. “Anything unfair needs to be challenged.”
However, she added that motorists who know they have breached clearly displayed parking rules are unlikely to succeed in challenging a charge.
Around 1,000 patients visit the Glangwili site every day, alongside hundreds of staff and visitors.
Ms Evans accepts she parked in locations she knew were not designated spaces.
However, she maintains she often felt she had little choice because of the lack of available parking.
Hywel Dda University Health Board has said it recognises the pressures on parking at the site and has taken steps to increase capacity.
Andrew Carruthers, Chief Operating Officer at Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “We cannot comment on individual members of staff who are current employees or who have worked for us in the past.
“Glangwili Hospital is a very busy hospital site and we do everything we can to make parking as convenient as possible for staff, patients, and visitors.
“We have an agreement with Gwili Railway and offer 144 staff parking places at their site, just next to the hospital. This has freed up more space for patients and they are in addition to the dedicated staff parking at Glangwili.
“We encourage staff to park in the areas allocated. Inappropriate parking can be dangerous for visitors to the site and cause obstructions, impact flow of traffic including access for emergency vehicles.”
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