Disabled parking (From Messenger Newspapers)
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Disabled parking
2:10pm Thursday 5th April 2012 in Your Letters
ON March 24 I took my mother to the minor injuries unit at Altrincham Hospital. Using her disabled parking card I parked in a disabled bay.
On returning to the car I found a parking charge notice on my windscreen.
Quoting the reference number, I enquired of Trafford Council the precise reason for the charge notice. I was informed that I had failed to place a clock showing the time of arrival adjacent to the disabled parking card.
Nowhere on the card or on any sign I could find pertaining to the parking bay was there any information about a requirement for any type of clock to be displayed.
I would advise anyone considering travelling to and parking a car anywhere in Trafford to be extra careful or better still reconsider and, where possible, go elsewhere.
As an additional touch of irony, my little difficulty was occasioned on the day after Trafford Council proudly announced a series of action days to support disabled motorists.
This specifically mentioned that – parking wardens will be patrolling streets checking vehicles displaying blue badges and giving information to drivers so they can be sure they are using their badge correctly in order to avoid parking penalties.
Not quite my experience, but I am sure I am not the first nor will I be the last.
W A Brotherston, Maltmans Road, Lymm
Comments(3)
Jimmy W
says...
9:22pm Tue 10 Apr 12
Bob_Smith wrote:Mr Smith let me give you a quote from another section of this newspaper's website.
They are not parking wardens (wardens are employed by the local constabulary), these guys are civil enforcement officers and are employed by the council. Whatever you want to call them they are jumped up jobsworths but lets not give them any elevation of status by calling them wardens.
One of them gave my pregnant wife a parking ticket while she was struggling to get our other 2 children into the car. She had overstayed by a few minutes on a residential street in Alty and he just watched and wrote out the ticket - on top of it he was verbally abusive.
I am still waiting for my wife to point out to me which of them it was.
Bob_Smith says...
4:19pm Tue 10 Apr 12
Further down Heath Road where the pavement disappears is private property. There is a sign to the right of the road which says "Private Road No Parking". The wording of the note was not rude - you could have parked nearer to the pub in Brown Street or Hale Station car park... BUT you didn't want to pay!"
It appears to me that you have views which are at odds with each other. When somebody parks their vehicle in a way that does not accord with your view of what is right there is a problem. When your wife breaks the rules and quite legitimately receives a ticket for over staying you complain and appear to make a veiled threat against a parking enforcement officer.
You complain about rule breaking on one hand but condone it on the other, the hint of threat also points to the potential for you to carry out a bit more rule breaking. What’s the plan? Some verbal abuse? A slight case of common assault? You show a distinct lack of consistency in regard to playing by the rules, unless of course it is in your favour.
Bob_Smith
says...
10:32am Wed 11 Apr 12
One story is about a guy who writes to the Messenger complaining about getting a polite note because he avoided paying to park by staying on someone else's land for an hour.
The other story is about a woman who took her disabled mother to the hospital and got a ticket for not displaying the blue badge properly. I empathised with the lack of common sense prevalent with these parking commandants by commenting about a pregnant woman who was struggling to get two kids into a car while a parking commandant is abusive and writes out a ticket.
Now grow up and stop being a troll.
Bob_Smith says...
3:55pm Tue 10 Apr 12
One of them gave my pregnant wife a parking ticket while she was struggling to get our other 2 children into the car. She had overstayed by a few minutes on a residential street in Alty and he just watched and wrote out the ticket - on top of it he was verbally abusive.
I am still waiting for my wife to point out to me which of them it was.