Car tyres slashed at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Mar 28 2008 By Emma Cullwick

VANDALS went on the rampage in streets around a Birmingham hospital, slashing thousands of pounds worth of nurses' car tyres.

Ward staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospitals say they are forced to park in neighbouring roads because many have been unable to get permits to park on site and can't afford the £10 a day visitor parking charges.

Police today confirmed an investigation is underway after cars were vandalised in roads near Queen Elizabeth, Birmingham Women's, and Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric hospitals, in Edgbaston.

Kirsty Forbes, 30, a staff nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, had worked a 12-and-a-half-hour shift when she discovered all four of her car's tyres had been slashed.

"I'd worked a night shift and I was looking forward to getting home and having a sleep," said Kirsty, who works in the liver unit. "When I got to my car and found all the tyres were flat I was gutted."

Kirsty, who had been parked in Metchley Lane, near the hospital, had to call her dad in Bromsgrove to rescue her and ended up forking out more than £335 to have her tyres replaced.

"I'm getting married in August so the cost is the last thing I need," said Kirsty, who lives in Kitts Green.

"The people who changed my tyres said they looked like they had been stabbed with a knife."

She added: "I know other nurses who have had their tyres slashed too. We're starting to feel like we're being targeted."

A police spokesman said at least 12 cars had been targeted in Metchley Park Road, Metchley Lane, and Harborne Park Road, with a further six damaged in nearby Lodge Hill and Harborne's High Street in recent weeks.

A NHS Trust spokeswoman added: "We haven't had any reports of incidents occurring on hospital property and we are unable to comment further while a police investigation is being carried out."

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call police on 0845 113 5000 or 0800 555 111.