Disabled parking campaigner welcomes council move

A man who has spent three years campaigning for better disabled parking provision has welcomed the news that his local council has agreed to take action.

Brian Roberts said there were fewer than 10 disabled parking bays in Blackpool available in the evening since many of the town's spaces are designated as taxi ranks after 18:00.

Seven of the full-time bays are in Clifton Street but in recent years the paint denoting them has worn away, meaning some disabled drivers did not know about them.

These have now been freshly painted, something which Roberts said was "vital for people trying use the shops and amenities in Blackpool town centre".

The 66-year-old blue badge holder, who has severe knee problems, added: "If you really struggle to walk, it can be an absolute nightmare trying to get to the places you need to go without decent parking facilities.

"It's also important that they are full-time bays.

"If you want to go to a restaurant at night, it's no good to a disabled person if a parking bay has reverted to a taxi rank after 6pm."

Roberts previously discovered there were fewer than 100 disabled parking spaces for more than 10,000 blue badge-holders in the Lancashire resort.

He said: "More needs to be done. For example, there are currently no full-time disabled parking bays on Blackpool promenade.

"That isn't good enough."

Blackpool Council said there were plenty of places to park for people with a disability, with hundreds of disabled parking bays across the town.

The local authority said people with a blue badge could also park for free in any of the town's 3,000 pay and display bays, or in any of the resort's thousands of car parking spaces.

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