A PHOTO showing cars without Blue Badges in a row of disabled parking bays represents the 'ugly reality of life in York for disabled residents,' claims an accessibility campaigner.

Alison Hume, co-founder of York Accessibility Action, was speaking out after The Press published online the picture of the high-end vehicles parked in bays near the foot of Clifford's Tower and across the road from the Hilton Hotel at the weekend.

None of the cars parked in the bays had a Blue Badge in the windscreen, said reader Greg Hoyland, who took the photo.

"The cars - all top of the range Rolls Royces, Range Rovers, Porsches - were using up all the disabled parking spaces outside the hotel," he said. "Not one had a disabled badge in.

"Some had been ticketed - but the fine will represent small change to the owners of such vehicles.

"What on earth leads such drivers to think they are entitled to behave like this?"

A reader subsequently claimed he saw the drivers all standing with their vehicles on Sunday morning, none of them disabled - "All had parking tickets, some had two."

Another claimed:"They get away with it because people who can afford such vehicles have an inbred sense of entitlement."

Disability rights activists have been campaigning against City of York Council restrictions on access to the city centre's footstreets for Blue Badge holders and against the prospective loss of disabled parking spaces through the proposed closure of the Castle Car Park near Clifford's Tower. 

They recently staged a mass protest next to the disabled parking bays which were photographed at the weekend.

Dozens of protesters, some in wheelchairs, gathered with placards proclaiming messages such as 'End Disability Discrimination,' 'Accessibility is a right, City of York Council is wrong' and 'Reverse the Ban.'

Ms Hume said the weekend photograph 'proves how toxic the situation is.'

She said: "These bays are as rare as hen’s teeth, particularly outside the Hilton where disabled hotel guests park their vehicles.

"The Castle Car Park might be a nightmare for the drivers of these big cars to squeeze into, but you just try being a wheelchair user and living in York!

"This photo represents the ugly reality of life in York for disabled residents. 

"The decision of York City Council to ban Blue Badge holders since the summer of 2020 has created a hostile environment towards people living with visible and invisible disabilities in our city."

The council has promised to improve access to the city centre, including a programme of dropped kerbs and better pavements, as well as the employment of an access officer.