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No-one likes to see people parking in disabled spaces when they are clearly flouting the rules. But what happens when it’s blatantly obvious the person is in a wheelchair even if they haven’t got a disabled badge?
Keith Butler presumed that it was clear for anyone to see that his 80-year-old mother, Paula, needed to use the designated spaces when they went shopping at Ludlow’s Tesco on Sunday.
But he claims to have been “told off” by a parking warden when he stopped in the disabled bay outside the store.
He said he explained to the warden that his mother’s disabled badge had expired while she was in hospital, but they needed to use the space to get the wheelchair alongside the car.
Mr Butler said the attendant harassed him for parking in the space even though, he said, it was obvious that his mother was disabled.
Fearing that he may be issued with a ticket, Mr Butler helped his mother into her wheelchair and left her while he moved the car into a standard parking space.
But Jason Key, managing director for Central Ticketing which controls the car park, disagreed.
He said today: “The warden noticed that the disabled badge was two months out of date so he moved the customer closer to the store and made it more convenient for him. All our staff are highly trained in customer service.”
But Mr Butler felt the warden was being unreasonable and added: “His response was to be totally unmoved. I wasn’t able to use the space, it was the law. He showed a total lack of common sense.
“We were in the parking space nearest the store. He did not move us nearer, he moved us away.
“He started photographing the car, in particular an old disabled badge my mother had on the dashboard. I didn’t see the relevance of this as I wasn’t claiming to be using it, in fact I had pointed out that it wasn’t valid, but this didn’t seem to penetrate.
“A shopper parked in a disabled bay who observed this told the attendant how ridiculous he was being and came across to offer us sympathy.”
A spokesman for Tesco said: “We apologise for any distress caused. However, as our customers would expect, we have a responsibility to check vehicles to ensure there is no abuse of disabled parking bays.”
By Tom Petty
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5 Comments
I wasn’t able to use the space, it was the law.
It’s not really the law (except being civil law)
Rather it’s Tesco’s law or that of their Parking Stasi’s
Suggest you vote with your feet if you can
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If any of my permits/insurance/tax/etc is due to expire, I make sure I get it renewed or replaced before the expiry date. What makes you think that the rules are any different for you?
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It’s true you should keep an eye on your permits, etc and renew them before they expire but his mother was in hospital at the time of expiry and I’m sure the whole family was a little stressed at the time and the permit renewal was not at the forefront of their minds. The warden does have a job to do (because it flaming annoys me if people use spaces allocated for specialised persons when they don’t qualify and don’t want to walk a bit further – sheer laziness)but I think a little discretion can always be made available.
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Will they also enforce these disabled drivers to not flout double yellows, parent and child spaces and most traffic laws. A blue badge is not a reason to drive your car recklessly and with scant regard of other road users. I’d have ticketed him too. It was out of date, and he shouldnt have been there. Tough, but then so is life.
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I are disabled and i have a blue badge what makes me mad is people who park in spases for disable people and they walk fine ,I saw a woman the other day carrying 3 big bags of shopping she was walking fine
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