Sally's World

Disabled parking spaces are great…..

Unless of course your specially adapted disabled vehicle looks like a big van…not through choice or anything, just because you need a bloody great electric wheelchair lift on the back to allow your child to get in it.

Its a necessity that we have spaces that are specially for those who need to be close to certain facilities, but god forbid, your vehicle looks like a van, god forbid we expect the camera/traffic warden/police officer to actually check and see if there’s a badge or it's actually registered disabled before sending you a ticket through the post.

I received yet another parking ticket yesterday. I apparently parked on a red route, in a disabled only parking bay…helloooo.

Honestly, I get seven or eight parking fines a year. All because these wonderful cameras we have dotted about London capture pictures of anyone who dares drive into a parking space. Of course, to the camera, the vehicle may look like an ordinary van. But the fact that the letters are addressed to me care of Motability (UK suppliers of disabled vehicles for those who don’t know) would give them a clue I should think.

This takes up more time and energy than I have to spare and quite frankly I'm sick of it!

This must happen to loads of people! And its just adding stress to already stressed lives....

Just venting!!!

Sal xxx

I would just like to send my commiserations to the traffic warden who missed out on a commission today. It’s a good job I forgot to lock the car door; otherwise I wouldn’t have seen the attempted delivery of an unfair parking ticket.

A traffic warden was standing on the curb when I parked in a disabled bay, set the badge to the appropriate time, placed it on the dashboard and got out. The traffic warden saw me unload Deion in his wheelchair, saw me put the ramp back up and watched as we began to walk away. Luckily we had to return after a few steps as I realised that I forgot to lock the doors.

I was surprised when I saw the warden punching my number plate into his little machine of his…the same machine I was tempted to take off of him and place somewhere safe, somewhere that would have required a trip to the hospital to have it surgically removed.

I asked him what he thought he was doing, he ignored me, I asked him louder and pointed to the badge. “It’s upside down,” he said in a bored tone. Actually the badge was sideways, but surely that’s not the point. The expiry date, the time and the number were all clearly visible, even if the poor traffic warden would have had to perform the hard task of tilting his head 30 degrees to the left to check that. I guess it was unreasonable for me to expect such a thing.

The truth is, I didn’t know that the badge had to be upright; I thought as long as you could see it, that was good enough.

Anyway, I turned it so that it was perfectly upright, took the names of a couple of passers by who had stopped to gawk in amazement at the tactless traffic warden just in case I ended up with a ticket in the post anyway. And I think he decided to cut his losses and he walked/stalked off up the road in search of another four wheeled victim.

It would be interesting to know though just how many tickets have been issued in this way, and if people are paying them.

How ridiculous. I drive a HUGE adapted vehicle with a bloody great electric wheelchair lift, there are about thirty stickers warning anyone not to park within 8 feet to allow the ramp deployment and wheelchair access. I have enough to think about without having to become paranoid that my disabled badge is at an exact ninety degree angle to the dash board should some idiot come along and slap a ticket on just for the hell of it.

Is it any wonder that Traffic wardens are some of the most hated people on earth, be honest we all put their job title right up there with serial killers, armed robbers and politicians, I’ve never met a nice one and I don’t think I’ve heard anything nice ever said about one.

Aarrghhh!

Sal xxx

p.s That does say Traffic Wardens in the title by the way…what were you thinking? Traffic Warden is enough of a swear word, I didn’t need to elaborate!