Disabled pensioner is parking mad at council bosses

Oct 15 2008 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

A DISABLED pensioner has hit out at Renfrewshire Council for removing five disabled parking spaces from Paisley town centre.

Helen George, 76, walks with a stick and has a Blue Badge which lets her park in disabled spaces.

She had planned to go shopping last Saturday afternoon with her daughter, who drove them both to their usual parking spot outside the Arnotts building.

But when they got there, they saw workmen replacing the inshot where they used to park with slabs to extend the pavement.

After driving around the town centre looking for somewhere else to park, they decided to give up and go home.

Helen said: “We have always parked there, it’s very handy for the town centre and I only wanted to pop into the Piazza.

“But we went along and the workmen were putting the slabs down and we couldn’t find anywhere else.

“We didn’t want to park in the Piazza because you have to pay to go there and it’s not as easy to get to.

“After driving around I just told my daughter to forget it and we went home.

“I’m very disappointed with the council, I don’t know why they’ve done this.”

Helen, who used to live in Bishopton, visits Paisley once a month with her daughter, who lives in Renfrew.

She says Paisley is the worst place she’s encountered for finding a disabled parking space.

A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “The disabled parking spaces outside Arnotts are temporarily out of use due to contractors working on that street.

“There are around 40 disabled parking spaces around Paisley town centre and all off-street town centre car parks have provision for disabled drivers.

“These are listed on the council’s website. Drivers displaying the Blue Badge are also able to park on town centre streets where yellow line restrictions apply provided that they do not cause an obstruction to other road users.”