Paralysed woman fined for displaying disabled badge wrong way around

11:06am Wednesday 2nd January 2008

Council chiefs are refusing to cancel a parking ticket slapped on a paralysed woman's car - while her husband used a wheelchair to get her out of the vehicle.

Ann Knight suffers from motor neurone disease and is totally disabled but was given the £30 fine because her disabled parking badge was the wrong way around on the dashboad of her converted car.

Parking officials in Brighton and Hove have now been slammed as bullying and soulless by her angry husband Howard who had just wheeled Ann, 60, into a seafront hotel and was checking in when the warden pounced.

He said: "The original hotel we booked was damaged in a fire so we had to find an alternative.

"I pulled into a bay outside the Metropole and I got Ann out of the car and wheeled her inside where we had to wait ten minutes to check in because the reception desk was very busy.

"I was horrified to find when I went out to move our van that an over-zealous warden had slapped a £30 ticket on the windscreen.

"It is absolutely appalling and heartless - the vehicle is obviously modified for a wheelchair user and there was a valid blue badge on the dashboard."

Mr Knight, who lives near Sudbury, Suffolk, wrote to Brighton and Hove council's parking services department but was told bluntly: "You got a ticket because the blue badge was displayed upside down."

A council spokeswoman said: "Blue badge holders should be aware of the correct way to display their badges, so that the number and expiry date can be clearly read by the parking attendant. "In this case the badge was displayed incorrectly and a parking ticket was given. "We received a letter of complaint from Mr Knight, but no evidence that the badge was valid. "We have written to Mr Knight explaining the reasons why the ticket was issued and given information about how to appeal. "Blue badge fraud and misuse is a national problem and the council is working closely with Sussex Police, under Operation Bluebird, to clamp down on the problem and protect genuine badge holders."

The Argus reported on Monday that disabled Ann Teare, 84, of Newick Green, near Lewes, was slapped with a £30 parking fine for displaying her blue badge upside down.

She was stunned to learn the reason why she was handed a ticket after she parked near Barretts Jewellers in Lewes High Street.

She said: "I couldn't believe it when I saw the ticket and I was quite shaken."

Mrs Teare appealed against the fine and wrote to East Sussex County Council.

And today councillor Matthew Lock, the county council's cabinet member for transport and environment, agreed to cancel the ticket but urged drivers to display badges correctly. He said: "We will waive the fee as a seasonal gesture of goodwill. At the same time I would strongly urge disabled motorists to be very careful about how they display their badges because they run the risk of being issued with a ticket if the badge cannot be read."

Should disabled pensioners be penalised for displaying their blue badges the wrong way around? Have your say below.

Editor's Choice