Council tow truck ignores disabled badge

By Jes Salter

A DISABLED woman helplessly watched her car swinging four feet above the road today, ready to be towed away from its parking spot.

A parking attendant had not spotted the blue disabled badge on the dashboard, which entitled the driver to an extra hour of free parking.

As the blue Volkswagon was being winched onto a council tow truck, the woman’s daughter, who owned the car, sprinted out of Budgens on Upper Street to confront the parking attendant.

The young woman, who did not want to be named, said: “I’m so angry. I’ve come out to take my elderly mother shopping and she can’t walk far. I don’t know whether they work on commission, but when their job is to check for these blue badges and they miss them, it’s not acceptable.

“It should not have even escalated into an argument - he should have just apologised and put the car down.”

Katy Miller, 24, watched from the pavement. She said: “It was quite a show really. The argument lasted for about five minutes, and the car was just swinging in mid-air. The lady wasn’t giving up though, and eventually the parking warden told the guy in the truck to put it back down on the road.”

The tow truck then drove metres down the restricted parking zone and moments after the attendant wrote a ticket for the owner of a black BMW, the man tore it off his windscreen, jumped in his car and manoeuvred out of the parking space.

Miss Miller said: “It was quite dramatic for a lunch break.”

Emily Fieran-Reed, St Mary’s ward councillor, said: “Traffic wardens should be trained to have more common sense especially when dealing with disabled people. There are two traffic wardens – one for Transport for London and one contracted out by the council which causes confusion. More power should be given to the borough.”

The parking attendant said: “We get hassle everyday. Sometimes mistakes are made, but they have to take it up with the parking services, not give me abuse.”

A spokesperson from Islington Council’s parking service said: “We generally only remove vehicles from the street if they are causing an obstruction, parked in incorrect bays such as a disabled bay, parked in a bus lane, parked on zigzag lines, are persistent evaders or suspected of being stolen.”

They could not comment on specific cases, but pointed out that last month Islington council fined three men for fraudulently using the blue badges.

Owners are fined £150 to release their vehicles from the pound and every additional day costs an extra £25.

Read More......