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Eastwood store defends blue badge car park fines
EASTWOOD'S Iceland store has defended slapping a disabled man with a parking ticket - saying they have never accepted blue badges as a reason not to pay for parking.
But their stance has sparked fury from former Eastwood man Stephen Godfrey who was given a ticket in the town's Iceland car park after parking in an allocated bay and displaying his blue badge.
And Mr Godfrey says the whole experience has left him so angry he will never shop there again.
However, the store's manager Pat Lawson, said customers should have been paying in the car park for the last five years, but never did because it was not monitored properly.
She said Excel Parking, the company responsible for the car park, have recently installed cameras, and drivers are now getting caught.
And she confirmed the disabled bays are not strictly for disabled people, just drivers who struggle to walk, and the car park has never accepted blue badges.
But long-term Iceland shopper Mr Godfrey said the print on the sign informing customers is far too small and the disabled parking bays should not be there if they are not for the disabled.
"I was gobsmacked. It's very misleading," he said. "It's in small print and you have to really look for it.
"Other car parks that don't accept disabled badges have a picture of the badge with a cross through it. There are no diagrams or anything.
"As I left a woman took her badge out her window and drove off so the same has probably happened to her."
The 50-year-old asked his dad, who is an ex-traffic warden, to investigate the matter for him.
"He even said the signs were very misleading. I'm not very good at reading small print because of my eyesight and there will be a lot of people worse then me."
But a spokesman for Iceland told the Advertiser: "This is not anything new.
"All drivers have to get a ticket and if they spend 5 in the store then it's refunded.
"The only difference now is that we have cameras."
Mr Godfrey has now appealed against his ticket.
A spokesman for Excel Parking said: "Prior to us managing the site disabled customers were required to purchase and display a valid pay and display ticket and we have continued the operation of the same policy."
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Weather for Eastwood
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
