Council planning crackdown on disabled parking abuse

Council planning crackdown on disabled parking abuse
11/11/2005 - 10:49:40

Dublin City Council is planning a crackdown on what it says is the "widespread abuse" of the free parking system for disabled motorists.

The council says family and friends of disabled people are abusing the system by using permits to park for free in the city.

The majority of permits are currently issued by disability support groups, but the local authority is now planning to issue its own permits under significantly stricter criteria.

Owen Keegan, Dublin City Council's director of traffic, said the abuse of the current system was harming genuinely disabled people.

The Irish Wheelchair Association has welcomed the planned crackdown, saying the justification for many of the permits currently in existence was questionable.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/11/11/story229748.html

really pi$$'s me off. At my local spar, the disabled spots are always being used by non disabled people.

Well I know it's possible to get them in the north for often quite spurious reasons.

Knew of one case where a couple had a permit because one of their offspring had an extremely mild learning difficulty -went to a regular school, regular classes, bit of remedial work and speech therapy involved. I'd never judge people in that position -just making an observation that the individual on who's behalf it was obtained was less than impressed.

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Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie

Knew of one case where a couple had a permit because one of their offspring had an extremely mild learning difficulty -went to a regular school, regular classes, bit of remedial work and speech therapy involved. I'd never judge people in that position...

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I would. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I used to work in a DIY store during my summers of from college. We had two handycapped parking spaces by the front door. Every day, I'd see some dip**** in a big, expensive car park there, even when the car park was more than half empty. I was quite happy when the store started clamping those people.

If the council are going to enforce that, fair dues to them.

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Originally Posted by Ringo

really pi$$'s me off. At my local spar, the disabled spots are always being used by non disabled people.

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Have to be careful with assumptions though. My great uncle would look fine, but has a disabled pass because of a heart condition - just because someone apparently just gets out of a car and goes into a shop doesn't mean they are scamming.

Totally in favour of them cracking down on abuse. In england it's actually quite hard to get a disabled pass, with medical assessments etc. And strict punishments for abuse.

Think they have to calm down the rhetoric though - they've no idea how many are being abused, they're just guessing. It'll be interesting to compare numbers after they've done the trawl. And what happens if people are only up in Dublin for the day? Is there provision for that, or will genuine people get clamped or have to park in a normal spot and pay?

btw Most disabled spots aren't big enough either - not enough room for wheelchairs down the sides. They could do with looking at that too.

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Originally Posted by Macy

btw Most disabled spots aren't big enough either - not enough room for wheelchairs down the sides. They could do with looking at that too.

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Noticed that myself on occasions.

Anyone parking in disabled spot who not entitled to should have to pay much larger fine than at present - maybe €500. In the US even shopping centres & outlets fine people $300 for parking in disabled spots.

I would think only physically handicapped people entitled to use these spots?

IMO they just have to have the passes assigned on a more strict basis and to actual regisatration plates so that it can not be abused.

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

to actual regisatration plates so that it can not be abused.

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So you'd restrict them to travel only in one designated car? Don't think that would be a positive step...

Well I am ignorant to the needs of handicapped people but in relation to handicapped passengers it is unfortunate but judging by this story something has to be done.

And as for handicapped drivers, how many people themselves drive more than one car? I understand that a family may have 2, 3 or even 4 cars but that is because of the amount of drivers. Usually a particular driver would only drive one specific car.

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

And as for handicapped drivers, how many people themselves drive more than one car? I understand that a family may have 2, 3 or even 4 cars but that is because of the amount of drivers. Usually a particular driver would only drive one specific car.

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The parents of a wheel-chair bound child are entitled to park in a disabled spot. There could be a couple of cars involved there. The pass is for the car carrying the child, not for the parents' car.

[QUOTE=Macy]Have to be careful with assumptions though. My great uncle would look fine, but has a disabled pass because of a heart condition - just because someone apparently just gets out of a car and goes into a shop doesn't mean they are scamming.QUOTE]

with all due respect , give me some credit, i know the difference. i'm talking about no pass, not just a questionable one.

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Originally Posted by Ringo

with all due respect , give me some credit, i know the difference. i'm talking about no pass, not just a questionable one.

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Wasn't meant to be directed straight at you, more in general and wanted to get in early. I've seen threads on other boards with people saying that some fella just got out of the car when he had a pass, or people boasting how they abused someone with no apparent disability. Tends to be close to the bone for me, as the aforementioned uncle has also taken abuse. I'm pretty sure he'd swap the pass for being able to walk the distance.