Some time ago City of York Council wrote to all Blue Badge holders stating that they were restricting parking in the city centre, and that barriers and notices would be going up.

The main reason for the changes, we were told, was advice from the police that to have fewer vehicles parked in the city centre, whether they belonged to blue badge holders or not, was to lower the risk from terrorism.

But what about night time parking? On an evening in the city centre there are now vehicles seemingly allowed to park indiscriminately all over the place. Maybe the threat of terrorism from parked vehicles doesn’t occur during the hours of darkness? Who knows?

What is evident is that the council is not managing its own parking restrictions as it should, as well as denying disabled people adequate parking areas in the city centre.

I went to Bootham Row car park recently, only to find that three disabled parking bays had been taken over by the developers building behind the Tavern. No other parking bays had been temporarily designated for disabled use.

I’m not complacent about terrorism. But if there are going to be council parking restrictions put in place because of terrorism, then please, manage and enforce the restrictions accordingly, and think a bit more outside the box about the consequences.

John D W Aked,

The Meadows,

Skelton, York