6:32pm Friday 20th November 2009
By Sonia Elks
DISABLED drivers could be banned from parking on yellow lines outside schools to drop off their kids, if a councillor gets his way.
Too many drivers are using their badges to park dangerously in school no parking zones, says a Tendring councillor.
Disabled drivers with a blue badge can park on single or double yellow lines for as much as three hours with impunity.
But Tory councillor Stephen Mayzes believes using the concession to park near schools is putting children’s lives at risk.
He said: “Tendring has 12,000 blue badge holders. That’s quite a large percentage of our households.
“Most doctors are quite happy to recommend patients for a blue badge without stringent tests.”
He wants Essex County Council impose “no unloading” restrictions outside schools in Tendring – a sanction usually reserved for commercial vehicles in shopping centres.
Such a ban would prevent blue badge holders, with anyone caught stopping facing a £370 fine, he said.
Mr Mayzes added: “We will take one step at a time, but what we would like to do is look at this as the ultimate deterrent.”
Disability campaigner Barry O’Connell agreed blue badges were handed out too readily and felt the system needed reforming.
But he added: “I think this is a bad attitude. It is a step backwards. We should look at helping disabled people.”
Mr O’Connell, who uses a wheelchair, said people with mobility problems found it hugely difficult to travel even relatively short distances.
Parent Scott White, who has complained about cars parked dangerously outside St Clare's primary school, in Cloes Lane, Clacton, was unsure how much difference such a ban would make.
He said: “It is not really disabled badge holders who are the problem, though it might make people sit up and think.”
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