Outrage as more NHS workers’ cars vandalised outside Preston hospital
Written by Skywave Radio News on July 23, 2020
NHS workers are outraged after a several cars have been vandalised in Royal Preston Hospital car park while staff are on shift.
Claire Hawkins, a paediatric nurse from Leyland, is just one of three hospital employees to have had their cars targeted by vandals as they work tirelessly to combat Covid-19 at Royal Preston Hospital.
The cars have all been damaged while parked in the Royal Preston Hospital staff car park during the last month with Claire being the latest victim.
The 32-year-old, who works 12 hours shifts caring for children in emergency situations, says more needs to be done to protect staff and their belongings after her car’s passenger window was smashed on Wednesday (July 22).
“The hospital are not doing enough, if they were something like this wouldn’t have happened again,” the ward sister told LancsLive.
“All these incidents are happening on staff cars parks and it makes you think, are we being targeted? People must know we are NHS staff.
“Who’s to say that one of the staff isn’t going to be hurt next? You don’t know what’s going through these people’s minds.
“I have two kids and their car seats were in the back of my car, clear and visible but knowing I had children didn’t deter these people, they’ve still gone and done it.”
Claire arrived at the hospital at about 7.30am on Wednesday and didn’t leave work until 8.30pm
The crime had been committed in broad daylight in a busy hospital car park.
Claire said: “I was in shock that someone would do this.
“I remember going over to the security guards and them saying: ‘you’re joking, not another one’.
“It makes me feel angry, it makes me feel uneasy. I don’t want to park in there again but then do I risk street parking and put myself in danger walking from the hospital to the car?”
On July 13, another NHS worker reported that their car had been scratched in the Royal Preston Hospital staff car park.
No one had left a number of note on the damaged vehicle.
At the end of June, nurse Nazia Hussain finished a gruelling 12 hour shift at the Preston hospital to find that her BMW One Series had been near totalled by vandals.
The nurse told LancsLive that the incident had left her feeling let down by the public.
“I was appalled, I can’t even truly express how I felt, I was speechless,” said Nazia.
“I had just finished a very stressful and challenging shift, I’m a frontline worker, I do my utmost best whenever I go into the hospital.
“To find my car in this state is just disrespectful and disgusting, there are no morals shown here.”
At the time, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals responded to the incident by saying that they had introduced extra patrols across the site and would “continue to work hard to ensure that incidents of vandalism are kept to a minimum on our car parks.”
The trust has not yet responded to fresh calls for comment this time around following the incident involving Claire’s car.
Lancashire Constabulary is currently investigating the incidents of vandalism concerning Claire and Nazia.
