800 hospital staff in plea over car parking spaces

Around 800 workers have appealed after being refused a parking permit at three Black Country hospitals, it emerged today.

Bosses are now reviewing applications before making a final decision on how many passes will be handed out.

The permit scheme was introduced in December to coincide with the opening of a new £6 million staff car park at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley.

But more than 3,000 workers at the Russells Hall and Guest hospitals in Dudley and the Corbett in Stourbridge applied for a pass.

The number of applications far exceeds the number of available spaces.

Hospital bosses say they have been forced to restrict parking spaces to one for every four workers due to council regulations when it applied for planning permission to build the new multi-storey in 2008.