A separate thread here got a bit of thread drift into disabled parking. Anyway in a idle moment with nothing on TV I fired off a couple of emails including the following to a council which (unusually) charges for disabled parking - the following is a copy of the correcpondence so far. Thought you lot might be interested - what you think? Fair or not?
-----Original Message-----
From: Russ
05 August 2006 22:25
To: ##@ryedale.gov.uk
Subject: Disabled Car Parking
On a recent visit to the Ryedale area I was very surprised to find that the council charges blue badge holders to park in their car parks. On discovering this I decided that as I am allowed to park for free on double yellow lines I would do just that and save myself the parking charges. It seems somewhat self defeating that the council actively encourages people to park on double yellow lines thus blocking traffic by this policy of charging for car parking and wondered why the council takes this approach when across the majority of the UK blue badge users are afforded the benefit of free parking, presumably to try to encourage them from not parking on double yellow lines.
Thankyou for your comments
Russ
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From Rydale Council
7th August 2006
Dear Mr Pinder
Thank you for your email regarding this Council's policy of charging the disabled to park on its off street car parks.
The Council ensures that disabled parking bays are located on each car park near to either the pay & display machine or the public toilets, for the conveniences of users. Vehicles displaying a Blue Badge may also park for three hours for the same price as two on all Short Stay car parks.
The matter of charging the disabled has been debated by Councillors on several occasions in the past and each time their decision has been that the issue of a Blue Badge does not indicate an inability to pay. We are not the only authority to charge the disabled, our neighbouring authorities of Scarborough and East Yorkshire also charge.
During 2005/06, officers presented a Car Parking Strategy to Members which again raised this issue, reminding Members that the majority of Councils do not charge the disabled. Members asked that further information be gathered before presenting this issue to a future meeting of the Committee for their consideration. We are in the process of surveying use of the disabled bays and will be liaising with North Yorkshire County Council, who are the Highway Authority to assess the potential impact of the introduction of free parking for the disabled.
I will ensure that your email is included as part of the feedback/consultation in that future report to Committee.
Yours sincerely
N
Operations Support Officer
Commercial Services
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My Reply - 7th August
Dear N
Thankyou for taking the time to reply to my email. I note your comments re the councils decision that "that the issue of a Blue Badge does not indicate an inability to pay" and would not disagree with this. However the council seem to be missing the point entirely. I am a wheelchair user and as such entirely reliant on my car for my mobility*. Before my injury I would have the option of using public transport, walking or cycling and as such to incur parking charges would be a choice that I could actively make. Now I am unable to make that choice and have to use a car which I then have to park, I do not have a choice as to my method of travel and am therefore unable to choose whether or not to incur parking charges, if the council chooses to levy charges I have two options - either to pay the charges or to park on double yellow lines which I would very prefer not to do but since that is now the ONLY way that I can aviod those parking charges then I feel entirely justified in so doing.
At the point that the council is entirely confident that the whole town and it's public transport system is completely accessible and that ALL kerbs and crossing points are wheelchar friendly, all buses are wheelchair accessible then I feel that charging for disabled parking would be justified as I would then be afforded with a choice. Until then charging for disabled parking is inequitable and unjustified.
Is there a list of councillors email adresses available that I could forward this correspondence on to?
Regards
Russ
*I am reliant on my car not because of an inability to push my chair - indeed I am more than happy to wheel as far as most reasonable people are prepared to walk. I am reliant on my car because generally outside of town centres it is almost inevitable that my way will be barred by inaccessible pavements or other physical barriers.
Having parking spaces close to machines or toilets is of no interest to me at all, I park my car to visit town centres, to go to shops and restaurants and not (generally) to go to the loo or (ever) to visit a pay and display machine. I just need a wider space to get the wheelchair in and out of the car and have little or no interest in the positioning of that space withing the car park although I do recognise that some blue badge holders may benefit from the position of the spaces as you describe.