PROVISION of disabled parking in Devon came under the spotlight at a ground-breaking meeting held in the county recently. Organised by disabled charity Living Options Devon, the meeting was prompted by frustrated responses to a recent survey of disabled car drivers, in which 69% said they were angry about the abuse of disabled parking facilities in the county. Living Options chief executive Diana Crump said: ?This is not a trivial issue or a mere inconvenience. Disabled people may not be able to access services independently if disabled parking is not available or inadequate and this directly opposes their equality rights.? The main points discussed included charging disabled people to park in car parks, the varying charges and concessions that existed across Devon, wrongful use of disabled parking bays and lack of enforcement, inadequate signs, markings, size and placing of bays and payment machines and the anomaly of having ?advisory? spaces. One disabled delegate said small changes could make a big difference: ?There are two meters I can?t get to because they haven?t lowered them.? Disabled people in West Devon felt a fee could be set with the first half hour being free and then payment for extended usage to facilitate those who wished only to ?pop in?. Diana Crump said: ?The big messages for me from this meeting are users working in partnership with councils, being involved at the beginning of the process and working across districts with common underlying principles.? Cathy Aubertin, West Devon Borough Council?s car parking manager, said: ?All bays are highlighted and there is a notice at the head of each bay stating it is for use by blue badge holders only. All pay and display machines, with the exception of one in Market Street car park, Okehampton, have been lowered to allow access by wheelchair users. ?In Market Street, there are three machines and the one nearest to the disabled bays plus one other are wheelchair accessible. Furthermore, we allow disabled people to purchase their tickets in advance from our office, which eliminates the requirement to use the machines.? Enforcement is carried out by monitoring officers and each car park is inspected at least once per day, usually more frequently. ?Although we charge blue badge holders for parking, we allow disabled users an additional free hour?s parking ? half an hour in Bank Square car park. It has been noted that the introduction of charges appears to have considerably reduced the abuse of disabled parking bays, and the mis-use of blue badges, by able-bodied people,? Ms Aubertin said. She said the borough council carried out full public consultation prior to the introduction of charges for blue badge holders and continued to consult with the community.
