A badge of little honour

10:01am Friday 7th March 2008

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I WAS walking along Davygate and coming towards me was a car. I stepped off the road to let it pass, but the car turned down New Street.

The old woman at the wheel, who blasted her horn at other pedestrians, was stuck in the wrong gear, to judge by the "revving but getting nowhere" going on.

She narrowly missed the pavement café and continued on her way.

I caught up with her outside the post office in Lendal and I asked if she had seen the pavement cafe she had nearly ploughed into and if she was aware she shouldn't be driving down New Street and Coney Street because it was 2.30pm.

Her curt reply was: "I'm disabled and have a badge."

I think the disabled badge scheme is a joke and is abused on a daily basis by a minority of users.

Apart from "badge holders" being able to drive into the city after pedestrianisation, the council in its wisdom, according to its pamphlet, allows them to park for a maximum of three hours in Davygate, St Sampson's Square and Church Street, as well as Blake Street, St Helens, Lendal, Goodramgate, King's Square, Colliergate and Castlegate.

Basically, they can park where they like. So why do they use Swinegate, Little Swinegate and the area at the side of JJB Sports in King's Square, plus High Petergate, as an extension to the scheme when it is clearly not part of the said scheme?

Could somebody please explain what criteria you have to meet to get a disabled badge?

A friend of mine had an accident a few years ago. He burnt his arm above the elbow and he now has a disabled badge. I have told him to his face that he is a fraud and has the badge under false pretences.

His arm is not disabled, his movement is not restricted, he can still drive and he can still load and unload his van as good as any able-bodied person.

He just laughs and says: "Play the game."

Yet on the other side of the coin, I have spoke to people who have applied for badges and cannot get them, although it is clear they are in desperate need of one. The system is a joke and needs a serious overhaul.

Then, of course, you have the "borrowers", the friends and family who are too bone idle to walk or pay to park in a car park, who borrow a badge and drive into town.

When caught, these people need to have the badge taken off them.

The badge holder will soon be up in arms at the loss of his or her badge; tough, abuse it, lose it.

Next in the line of fire comes the horn-happy brigade, blasting at pedestrians who dare to get in their way. Pedestrians have right of way during footstreet hours, not the other way round.

Badge holders would do well to remember they have a privilege to be in the city centre, not a divine right.

Then we have the the badge holders who park over dropped kerbs. Such kerbs provide access to wheelchair and pushchair users. Yet 99 times out of a 100, you will find disabled drivers in Saint Sampson's Square and King's Square parked over these dropped kerbs.

Never mind the excuse that you didn't realise, I don't buy that. The top and bottom of it is this: there was a space, you wanted that space to park so you took it, stuff everybody else, simple as that.

Paul Willey writes in a personal capacity, and not on behalf of City of York Council. Paul works for the council as head of a street cleaning team.