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Disabled pensioner in parking fine furore
Monday 14th December 2009, 11:30AM GMT.
A disabled pensioner who was asked to produce his blue badge at a parking office in the Black Country was slapped with a ticket while he was inside having it checked by staff.
A traffic warden penalised 71-year-old Alfred Turley for not having his badge on display for the few minutes he was inside the parking control office in West Bromwich.
Staff asked the great-grandfather to fetch his badge from the car for verification. And after he was given the ticket, they told him they were unable to void it. Mr Turley, who lost his wife June 23 years ago, paid the £35 penalty.
The retired steel worker, of Kinnersley Crescent, Oldbury, walks with crutches due to severe problems with his knees.
The father of four and grandfather-of-nine said today: “I couldn’t believe it.
“They asked me to fetch my badge and when I returned I had a ticket. I didn’t make a fuss to the warden because I just thought they’d cancel it on the spot when I went back inside to tell them what had happened.
“But they said there was nothing they could do and I had to pay it.”
Mr Turley parked in a disabled bay outside the office in Victoria Street on Friday. He was at the office having a previous ticket voided.
His son Lee, a 34-year-old computer programmer from Cannock, said: “I think it’s appalling, where is the common sense in this?”
Sandwell Council today said it would void the ticket if Mr Turley appealed.
Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing Councillor Mahboob Hussain said: “If drivers are not displaying the necessary ticket or blue badge they are likely to get a penalty.
“On this occasion the gentleman could have parked in a bay where he did not need to display his badge whilst taking his badge to the parking office. I will ask officers to void this ticket if an appeal is made.”
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“the gentleman could have parked in a bay where he did not need to display his badge whilst taking his badge to the parking office”
There’s the answer right there but this man decided to play the disabled card rather than act like every other person would and park in a spot that didn’t require a blue badge.
Shame on you, Sir !!
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I HOPE THE PEAPLE OF SANDWELL REMEMBER HUSSAIN AND HIS LOT WHEN THE VOTE COMES AROUND I JUST THINK THEY LIKE TO BE IN THE PAPERS WHAT USLESS LOT THEY ARE
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What, do traffic wardens have to be telepathic now to know the situation?
And whats the fact his wife died 23 years ago got to do with it?
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“But they said there was nothing they could do and I had to pay it.”
Wrong, as shown..and note the apparently self-contradictory tone; they claim there was nothing they could do – and yet they also claim to know, as fact, that someone HAD to pay a fine. People like this are not judge and jury, but I hazard a guess they’re ‘encouraged’ the act like it so that the profits can be raked in..they’re some of the most arrogant, obstructive individuals one could ever have the misfortune of sharing air with.
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Have u lot got any commen sense either? 1 guy sayin he’s playin the disabled card even tho u have to go through a proper health check and doctors report to get a blue badge in the first place, an 1 guy sticking up for the stupidity of the warden who know doubt could have cancelled that ticket, even the couciller has kind of hinted at that by sayin its them he’ll get to void the ticket upon appeal? what is it with people today that cant just use a lil bit of commen sense instead of all this uproar about something soo stupid.
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Dave Wynn, my father can hardly walk so why should he be made to walk further and not to park in a spot where he is entitled to. “Playing the disabled card” – SHAME ON YOU MR WYNN.
and Andy, I agree that the traffic warden was doing their job correctly – we have no problem with that but the ticket should have been voided when my father took the ticket back to the office.
I agree that my mothers death is irrelevant to the story. The Express & Star chose to include this
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I just want to apologise to Lee and his father, the comment about your mothers death, bit insensitive however, i feel the E&S print irrelevant drivel.
However, I think the warden is only doing his job and wouldnt have known about the situation, I dont think they have the option to cancel the ticket there and then however, i think this highlights some serious lack of judgement on the councils part. I sense a severe case of “I cant be arsed” was probably played by them when faced with this.
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I can’t believe that the council haven’t just apologised for the mix up and asked Alfred to contact them to get the ticket voided and his money back. Suggesting he should have parked elsewhere is ridiculous, and the councillor almost makes it sound like he will be doing Alfred a favour by voiding the ticket ‘if’ he makes an appeal. It’s crazy!
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Dave Wynn
The whole idea of A blue badge is to allow the disabled person to park near to where he/she needs to be. Why do you expect Mr Turley to park further away and possibly have to pay A parking fee. You don’t appear to understand what the word disabled means. Look the meaning up then apologise to mr turley.
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To many people own blue badge’s these day’s, but it dont stop them carrying a ton of shopping back to the car or pack’s of laminate flooring that i once witness. for most its a simple convienence for easy parking and not for the genuine disabled folk. if they can drive and shop there not that disabled.
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I was in West Brom today by that new health centre on the lyng and there was absolute bedlam with the traffic….WHY ????
Because someone parked on double yellow lines right on the bend, really dangerous….but it was ok because they had their disabled badge showing !!
On the way back I saw the gentleman coming back to his car, oblivious to all of the chaos he was causing, carrying loads of shopping from Argos & Tesco.
I am not one to judge, but if he was capable of walking that distance with all that load then why should he be allowed to park on double yellow lines, why not park on one of the many other empty car parking spaces we have in this dump….sorry , West bromwich.
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Sharon, I prefer due process but also with some discretion. So whilst I would like to see an appeal so that it can be documented, I also agree that the stance taken appears to be somewhat insensitive. Without due process you have people asking ‘favors’..and you know where that can lead with the recent tax fiasco, right? I say keep it above but but help – not hinder – the appeal process.
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sm where is the proof that most people abuse the blue badge system..isn’t that a ‘guilty before innocent’ viewpoint? As for the warden, I don’t think he had the right to say the client had to pay the fine, but rather, that he had the right to an appeal process..it’s not an open and shut case else there would be no appeals process to begin with and for a disabled person (or anyone), it may seem a bit intimidating to be told otherwise by people that we generally assume know what they are doing.
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Mahboob Hussain you really haven’t got a clue have you?
Roll on the next election you muppett.
You should be giving Mr Turley his money back with compensation for your councils incompetence, not making him go through the hassle of appealing.
I wonder how much you lot make off people that can’t be doing with the hassle of appealing or going to newspapers.
Why can’t you give out temporary passes from your office for the disabled while the disabled badge holders are showing their badges to you,
that way traffic wardens will know they are in your offices showing their badges or is that too easy.
Oh and don’t worry you will get one vote probably off Dave Wynn mind.
Now kindly go forth and multiply and go and fine some innocent Mother for feeding ducks with her child.
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Number 10, sm, I take exception to your comments.
Like many others I am disabled and have a blue badge. Simply because I can’t walk far without rest.
I can drive and shop – yet am disabled. There isn’t a category for ‘not that disabled’, either we are disabled enough to need a blue badge or we aren’t.
Nothing to stop many disabled carrying a load of shopping or laminate flooring – many disabilities aren’t related to what can be carried.
I just hope you never become disabled.
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sm would you be happy if the disabled just sat at home all day then you sir are a prize prat
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Will all those who have had a go at Mr. Turley read the bloody article, “i parked in the disabled bay then they asked for my blue card” why would he expect to get a ticket and why wouldn’t he expect to have it voided. This is the same sort of crap over the young lady feeding the ducks.We need funds fine anything that moves or doesn’t move.
As for number ten you should get real before making these accusatios a lot of people with blue badges have carers or helpers.
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1) if he was made to park further away, rather defeats the idea of having a blue badge, don’t you think!
10) If you believe that people who have blue badges don’t deserve them, I challenge you to try get one if you think its that easy, just as a social experiment, I think you may be surprised.
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Bill. yes i can say and will say people do abuse the blue badge, go throu coseley high street there are some great examples of parking in the worst places by blue badge holder’s, A nightmare.
and martin davies contradicts his self completey about disablities, so it seems with an headache you can get a blue badge and carry what the hell you like!
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How yes i forgot to mention i do have a disablity,
im blind in one eye but as the person i am i wouldnt want to claim disability or claim for a blue badge.
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The bottom line is that councils especially those such as Sandwell, appear to treat parking as a revenue stream -behind the veil of ‘green’ credentials.
If the council provided adequate FREE parking for ALL, the town would be much better off with more people visiting and fewer empty shops (despite the recession).
This case is a classic example of council officials hiding behind poorly drafted ‘rule-books’ and loosing sight of common sense. They should’ve sorted this out straight away instead of wasting yet more valuable Sandwell taxpayers money trying to defend the indefensible -whilst other, much more important services go wanting…!!!
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Dave Wynn why do you think they have disabled / mother and baby parking near the facilities? Do you really need anyone to explain this simple fact to you?
Would this warden have been turned into stone and gone to hell if he hadn’t issued that ticket???
Why couldn’t he have waited a while for the driver to come back? Could it have been the case that his quota for issuing parking tickets would have been down?
Sm, if you looked at me you would wonder why I have a blue badge, trust me you wouldn’t want the pain I suffer from my back, I was at the hospital again on Friday trying to get treatment to improve it.
A couple of years back I couldn’t walk more than 20 yards without having horrendous pains in the chest from my angina, oh and I am also an asthmatic, but the government doesn’t recognise that as an illness even though each asthma attack is a potential killer.
How a person looks doesn’t mean a thing and is certainly no indication that a person isn’t entitled to a blue badge.
Now to the crux of the problem here, the council was elected to represent the people in the borough; the purpose of the council is to provide the facilities required for people to go about their everyday life, that’s what’s supposed to happen.
Now here is what actually happens, councils found that because of the apathy of the electorate, they didn’t have to provide services that people wanted, because if they didn’t provide them no one would bother to complain anyway, then the bully boys took over!!!!!!!!!! And found that instead of being there to provide services they could bully and punish people and having this power made them feel very important, and that what is happening here in Sandwell, and no one cares, come the elections and again only 3 in 10 will bother to vote and the bully boys will win again.
Jim of Bearwood
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Mr. Turley, I REALLY feel sorry for you. Please let me tell you about SandHELL Council. Just over two years ago, whilst living in Oldbury, I had the misfortune to encounter one of those Nazi’s that work for SandHELL as a traffic warden. This person, shoved a parking ticket on my car which was parked directly outside my flat, (which my partner and I had been renting for THREE years)in a legal parking space, in Birmingham Street, Oldbury. I will admit that the car was parked in the space for a few minutes over the time, but as I say it was the ONLY parking spaces available in the immediate area, and it WAS DIRECTLY outside of my flat. (the ONLY reason we were overparked, was that my 2 yr. old (who lives with her mother in the North East had been stopping over, and had suddenly taken ill,so we were attending to her needs). When we left the flat, I noticed the parking ticket on the car, so I immediately contacted the Parking Office in West Brom, who told me to put my grievence in writing within 28 days and it would be cancelled. I did, but it wasn’t, I had to pay up..
Because of the arrogance of the SandHELL officials, we quickly pooled our resources, and bought a FOUR bedroomed house, (on 3 floors), in a nice residental area of Stourbridge.
Moral of this story is Dudley Council get our Council Tax, SandHELL get NONE!.
Ps. Hussein and Co, you are on borrowed time as councillors, you better believe me!!.
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Jim i should have been on disability years ago, my hip and shoulder are disfigured due to my motorcycle sport(grasstrack racing) and so many operation’s and im still racing today at an high level so no excuses. incapacity benfit is a great payout.
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Sm I got my spinal damage through standing for 12 hours packing 12 and 14 tons of product a shift, I didn’t get mine playing the big guy on a motorbike, its my tax that pays for idiots like you to receive medical care that you should be paying for yourself.
Benefits are no good when your quality of life has been so damaged that you can’t even tie your own shoelaces or put your own socks on, standing at the sink means enduring horrendous back pain, I don’t receive benefits for my back injury, just a poor quality of life.
Jim of Bearwood.
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Correction, its your tax’s that pay for the long term unemployed and boy racers who smash themselves up, myself i earn a living from bike’s, my private hospital plan also cover’s my injuries so i’de been hardley having your money jim, Dont alawys asume your money pays for the likes of me.
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Number 19, sm, I don’t understand your comment.
What headache? What contradiction?
As for carrying, I can carry a fair bit in my arms – doesn’t make a bit of difference to the distance that I can walk without rest.
I qualify for a blue badge because of mobility difficulties. Carrying capacity is nothing to do with mobility.
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I THINK HE GOT OFF LIGHTLY. HE SHOULD SERVE AT LEAST 3 YEARS IN JAIL FOR THAT HEINOUS OFFENCE. BRING BACK HANGING I SAY
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Sm, you mean you really didn’t know that when you have private medical care, that often these specialists will use NHS Hospitals and equipment for the benefit of private patients???
Also the skills used to treat you in a private hospital, have often been gained from the Education paid for by the British Taxpayer, when as fledgling doctors these specialists had to train to be doctors in the NHS.
Once they gained those skills they then chose to seek a position in a private hospital /clinic / practice, and to make their fortune using the skills the British Taxpayer had paid for.
Jim of Bearwood.
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Martin Davies… I would seriously question someone carrying laminate flooring around who said they were disabled! Ok I know people who have had heart attacks and suffer from angina..yes they need this help and it’s not always a wheel chair thats needed to say someone is disabled. There are however certain circumstances I would bring it into question..like carrying bags of cement from B&Q and the such like. Oh yes i have seen it happen as well from people who claim disability with bad backs and the next thing they are digging the garden and under cars tinkering around!!!
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Then you don’t know much about disability.
Ability to carry and ability to walk far can be two different things entirely. Not everyone is in a wheelchair or has angina/heart problems. Some disabilities just affect ability to walk far.
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Real disability Martin Davies..or just the ones we are used to in modern day life. I know about real disability having workied with people who have them. Not the back ache brigade who dig the gardens at the weekend. Heart problems as well will stop you from walking too far and yes their are other conditions that wil qualify like spondulitus of the spine and work related disability.
I see peoople everyday who are in wheel chairs and struggle in parking and shopping and moan less than some people who get out of their cars and are more than capable of walking from A to B
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