Pair vow to boycott town after £25 fine (From Ledbury Reporter)

Pair vow to boycott town after £25 fine

11:00am Friday 4th January 2013 in News

AN angry couple say they will not be returning to Ledbury to shop after getting a £25 parking ticket.

Angela Morris and her partner John Keene, who has Parkinson’s and is a disabled badge holder, drove over the border from Eldersfield in Gloucestershire for a day of Christmas shopping.

They parked in a High Street disabled bay believing it would be free and without time limit, as stated in Mr Keene’s disabled badge rule book.

But the couple missed the clause that states “unless signs say otherwise”.

Unfortunately there was a sign, and they returned to their vehicle only to find that they had been given a £25 ticket by a warden after parking there for more than one hour.

Ms Morris said: “The rule book also states that you can park in other bays for free and as long as needed, and on yellow lines for up to three hours. So what the council seems to be saying is that as a disabled person, with limited ability to walk, you should ignore the disabled bays and park in the ordinary ones or on double yellow lines instead, which would allow sufficient time for you to go where you need to, allowing for limited mobility.”

She added: “The disabled parking sign that was near the disabled bay we parked in, outside Boots in the High Street, was not at all clear that it meant only one hour for disabled parking, as although it stated one hour at the top of the sign this was also stated on the other “normal bay” sign close by.

“So we thought that it must relate to those bays and not the disabled one, as you normally get at least three hours in those.

“Having travelled extensively around the country using disabled parking facilities, the time-limit, if applied at all, has always been at least three hours, and so you would naturally assume that a total unrealistic one hour would apply only to the ordinary parking bays.”

The couple say they live on benefits, and can ill afford the fine they have been given.

The trip, which took place the Monday before Christmas, was to buy presents for the big day.

Ms Morris said: “This has put us off going to Ledbury again despite it being not too far away from where we live.”

A spokesman for Herefordshire Council said on-street disabled bays in the High Street are restricted to an hour.

He said: “The on-street disabled and time limited waiting bays can vary in different areas and motorists are responsible for checking the time limits on them before leaving their vehicle.”