Disabled sometimes park improperly

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 13

Disabled sometimes park improperly

The Christchurch City Council was trying to save disabled persons with “Operation Mobility” parking concession cards from the trouble of coming into the Civic Offices to explain infringements, members of the Crippled Children Society have been told. Mr G. N. Stevenson, the car-parking superintendent, said the council which now enforced city centre parking laws, was concerned that some mobile card holders seemed to feel that they could avoid infringement fees if they displayed the card. That was not correct, since concessions did not allow unlimited parking, and must be used properly. Until the end of July,

enforcement officers will issue only warnings for card holders, except in serious illegal parking cases. At present, “about half a dozen mobility card holders a day receive offence notices,” said Mr Stevenson. “We cannot continue to keep up the level of correspondence with card holders. It is getting embarrassing.” Enforcement officers, who sometimes do not notice mobility cards because they have been put in inconspicuous places or, have fallen away from a car window, would be helped if an identifying sticker could be placed on a vehicle’s front number plate, he said. That would alert an officer about to write a ticket that a card might be displayed. The sticker could be small, said Mr Stevenson, and did not have to contain the wheelchair symbol. A letter of the alphabet could be placed on it. Crippled Children Society members said that some disabled persons might not wish to be identified all the time as disabled, by a sticker recognisable even when they were not using parking concessions. Disabled persons were often passengers in a variety of vehicles, so their cards were moved around.

The national Crippled Children Society will be asked its view of the licence

plate sticker idea. The mobility card is supposed to be placed facing outwards in the front passenger’s window. Lists of parking concessions will be sent to those persons who have submitted infringement explanations. There are more than 2000 mobility card holders in the Christchurch area.

Off-street parking services are already provided for the disabled in ground level car-parks and parking buildings. Spaces can be held that leave room for wheelchairs, and spaces can be held convenient to lifts if disabled persons ring ahead to parking stations. Lifts are now working in the multi-level public parking building at the eastern end of the City Mall, in Cashel Street. Mr Stevenson said that on-street parking would also be more convenient now that all city centre meters had been converted to take 10c coins as well as 5c coins.