A disabled woman has claimed she’s been slapped with dozens of fines for parking outside her own home and is being forced to park on a strip of double yellow lines as there is no resident parking permits or a disabled bay – despite five years of requests. Maria Rodriguez, 76, has said that she is “tired” of the situation with each fine costing £70.
Sefton Council, based in England, insists the fines are in line with national enforcement guidelines around parking rules. Despite this, the pensioner says that these rules are too rigid and don’t take into account her personal circumstances.
Maria, who speaks English as a second language, has been slapped with penalty charge notices due to incorrect display of her blue badge and time card, according to the Liverpool Echo. She insists she was instructed to place the blue badge on the side.
When questioned if there could have been a misunderstanding due to language barriers, Maria agreed but maintained that she had made her situation clear. A Blue Badge is a parking permit that allows individuals with disabilities to park nearer to their destination.
Maria successfully applied for a Blue Badge which she uses daily for her weekly errands. However, the issues arise when she returns home and struggles to find a parking spot. The absence of a disabled parking bay forces her to park away from her house.
Maria said: ‘I’m just tired of all this because I keep getting £70 fines for parking outside my own house. How can this be? I have lived here for 23 years and I remember the day that this [parking situation] changed. A machine came to do the yellow lines just on the corner – nowhere else. I had been asking for the disabled bay for many years but they didn’t do that.”
Maria, who is registered as having a disability and has mobility issues which impact her independence and ability to move around, relies on her car and the need to have parking close to her front door. Without resident or disabled bay parking, Maria said her life has become a daily battle.
Maria added: “There are people that don’t understand that [the need for appropriate parking for drivers with disabilities]. If people had someone in their family, they would probably understand and they could make their voice heard louder than mine because I live alone and it’s difficult to get people to listen.”
Asked whether she feels the council have made the effort to understand her need for accessible parking and to clarify display guidance, Maria said: “I contacted the council to explain, but all they say is that this [fine] needs to be paid.”
A Sefton Council spokesperson made it clear that strict rules govern the use of Blue Badges: “There are a number of nationally set rules and responsibilities that must be adhered to when using a Blue Badge.” They further iterated: “One of those rules states that all Blue Badge holders must ensure their badges or time clocks are displayed correctly and made visible in the vehicle they are using, regardless where they park. If this is not done so then a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) may be issued.”