Pensioner drives war against disabled parking ‘thieves’

‘No permit, no park’, is what a southside pensioner is pushing for to stop selfish drivers ‘stealing’ disabled carparks. And to make matters worse, the local council says under the law it can’t swap disabled bays with loading bays.

Disabled parking on City Road at Beenleigh where pensioners say they have trouble getting a spot because ‘thieves’ without disabled stickers are ‘stealing’ their spots. AAP Image/Jono Searle

NO permit, no park, is what a southside pensioner is pushing for to stop selfish drivers “stealing” disabled carparks.

Holmview resident Robert Anderson, 80, is driving a war on safeguarding disabled car spots in Beenleigh and calling for those parking illegally to lose demerit points.

To add insult to injury, Mr Anderson said the few disabled parks in Beenleigh were in the wrong place and council refused to move them.

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According to Mr Anderson there were only 11 disabled car spots in Beenleigh streets around the main set of shops off City Rd and it regularly took more than 30 minutes to find a disabled park after 9am.

“Nobody wants to do anything to make it easier for disabled people to find a safe and easily-accessed carpark in Beenleigh,” he said.

“Over three days in December, I noted nine of 11 disabled carparks in Beenleigh were often occupied by people without disabled stickers.

“I tried to raise my concerns with the council who told me to call the shopping centre manager, who told me to call the police, who told me to call council.

“Even police officers I met on the footpath laughed off my request to fine two motorcyclists parked in disabled bays.”

Mr Anderson said when he spoke with council to suggest they swap loading bays on City Rd so disabled car parks were closer to shops, he was told it couldn’t be done because the road was too narrow.

Large loading zones on City Road at Beenleigh, where disabled drivers want greater access and more parking bays. AAP Image/Jono Searle

“I don’t understand what difference that would make on City Rd as a disabled car park is just as wide as a normal carpark.”

Logan City Council was unable to give an exact number of disabled car parks in Beenleigh but said there were “about 400” off-street spaces “at various council facilities”.

“Parking for people with disability has been provided within the Beenleigh Town Centre development in James Street,” council said.

“The existing parking bays in City Road were installed many years ago when Beenleigh was part of the Gold Coast.

“Current Australian Standards require parking bays for people with a disability to have certain dimensions and a kerb ramp to give users on their mobility device access to the bay from the footpath.

“City Road and its narrow footpath are not wide enough to expand existing parking bays.”

Disabled parking on City Road at Beenleigh. AAP Image/Jono Searle

Police officers patrol disabled parking bays across the city and at 18 shopping centres, including at Beenleigh Mall.

Council has written agreements with the shopping centres to allow council parking officers to monitor disability parking bays.

Both council parking officers and police can issue infringement notices but in Queensland that does not include demerit points for illegally parking in a disabled bay.

Beenleigh Marketplace centre manager Kelly Ferguson said her centre provided 15 disabled bays.

Beenleigh Marketplace centre management staff Kelly Ferguson and Megan Lattimer say their centre has more than the required number of disabled parks, which are stringently patrolled. AAP Image/Jono Searle

“A lot of people don’t realise that we also have 500 basement carparks with nine disabled bays in front of the travelator,” she said.

“We are very proactive about patrolling our carparks and we have onsite security performing patrols throughout the day.

“If we are aware of a customer who has parked in a disabled bay without the correct identification, we use our overhead announcement system to ask customers to return to their car.

“Nine times out of 10 people move their cars within minutes.”

Unfortunately, Mr Anderson said there were no such patrols along Beenleigh’s streets where there are signs on poles on the footpath along City Rd.

Disabled parking on City Road at Beenleigh. AAP Image/Jono Searle

The fine for illegally parking in a parking area for people with disability is $261. Fines are issued by council’s community parking officer or police.

In the past 12 months, council issued 74 infringement notices, which included 55 fines and 19 warnings, to those found to have illegally parked in disabled bays. But none of those fines were in Beenleigh.

Council officers said they regularly patrolled Beenleigh and acted on complaints.