THE people of Barrow have always been willing to use protests to change society and make the voice of the people known.
In 1998, local outrage spread after a decision was passed to raise the cost of parking for NHS staff members.
A long-standing issue and source of frustration for the community, the Barrow health bosses were faced with protests after an increase was announced.
More than 100 members of staff from Furness General Hospital joined a protest against the car parking charges that year.
Members of the movement said that the plans would mean they would have to pay to go to work.
The protest came as a last-ditch effort to persuade hospital bosses to withdraw the charges for staff, who were being asked to pay £26 a year for parking passes.
A ballot of the hospital workers showed that 97 per cent had objected to the new charges.
The charges for staff and visitors would pay for security guards and CCTV in car parks and leave a £15,000 surplus.
Opponents of the charges stated that the plans would hit badly paid workers, especially as public transport links to Barrow hospital are poor and practically non-existent at night.
Jimmy Herron, from the largest health union Unison, was firmly against the proposals and was a driving force behind the protests.
He said: “A lot of people are objecting to the charges on principle.
“I can afford the £26 but I won’t pay the trust because there are a lot of people here who can't afford it."
He added that parking charges were justifiable in city centre hospitals where shoppers took up parking places but that the only people who ever parked a FGH were staff, patients, and visitors.
"Hospital bosses have made concessions on the parking charges for disabled drivers but still plan to charge part-time workers and students.
"A number of employees at the hospital have refused to sign forms allowing the trust to take the parking charges out of their wages."
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