Parking Situation A Problem For Local Lifeguards

By Marcus Braid on March 2, 2015 in News

Waverley Council’s lifeguards are said to be at wit’s end over the issue of parking at their local beaches.

One former lifeguard, who is closely linked to the current Waverley Lifeguards, contacted The Beast recently relaying complaints about the issue.

At present, there are no dedicated parking spaces for lifeguards at any of Waverley’s beaches and, until recently, lifeguards living outside of the Waverley area have not been able to obtain beach parking passes.

As such, many lifeguards are forced to make the choice between parking a significant distance from the beach, racing out to feed a parking meter every two hours, or running the risk of receiving fines in order to park closer to their workplace.

“During summer, many lifeguards have to battle to find parking in the suburban streets,” the former lifeguard said. “Sometimes they have to park up to three kilometres away from the beach to find all-day parking.”

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said that Council simply cannot offer free parking to all staff.

“Do people generally in the world or in Waverley get free parking in order to do their job?” she said. “The answer is no.”

“We have, give or take, over 600 staff, so it would be impossible to give all our staff free parking. Some people, like rangers, need their cars and places to park, but generally for staff we don’t do that.”

Lifeguards have complained that the parking problem is creating stress and leading to an unpleasant workplace.

“When you consider that they do ten-hour days for six or seven days straight, the added stress of finding a parking space is the last thing these guys should have to worry about,” The Beast’s source said. “And stress leads to fatigue, which can lead to accidents.”

Cr Betts said she was very surprised to hear about the lifeguards’ complaints.

“I am astounded,” she said. “I have sat down with them personally in the last short while and had an open and frank conversation. I’m really quite perplexed about this.

“It hasn’t gone through any procedure and they haven’t discussed it in their direct report, so I find that quite strange.”

Surf lifesaving clubs in Waverley are allocated parking spaces despite only patrolling on weekends, with several spaces set aside out the front of the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club and three reserved spaces in the cutting at Bronte.

“The ideal solution is to provide some parking spaces for the lifeguards, like Council does for the surf clubs,” the former lifeguard said. “At the very least they should be given a sticker or pass, or have the option to purchase one, so they can park all day and don’t have to go feed the meter every hour, which takes lifeguards off the beach.”

Since The Beast started looking into the issue of lifeguard parking, Waverley Council has offered lifeguards that live outside the Waverley Municipality the option to purchase a parking pass that will allow them to park at the beach for free, assuming there are spaces available.

“We have a very affordable scheme for staff in order to buy parking,” Cr Betts said. “We give a really good staff deal to them.”