I’d like to give my view on an article in the Gazette (January 31) headlined: “Fined – for helping a disabled shopper.”

I totally agree with taxi driver Kenneth Winfield’s request that the council should rethink parking rules for taxis etc who are picking up disabled clients.

If it wasn’t for taxis like Mr Winfield’s picking up disabled passengers, their lives would be even harder than they already are.

It is a crazy situation that twice now he has got a ticket for doing this.

Mr Walker, the council parking services manager said: “We would normally observe a vehicle for at least five minutes before issuing a ticket.”

Well sometimes it could quite easily take up to ten or 15 minutes to collect and bring back to the taxi a disabled client.

Surely the easiest solution would be for the council to produce a special badge that could be issued to people who regularly pick up disabled people, such as taxis, that could be displayed on the dashboard the same way as a disabled badge is.

It could be done where you could also display the time you park and allowing for a 15 or 20-minute time slot.

We live in a society where it is illegal to discriminate against disabled people and I think I have come up with quite a simple solution to solve this problem.

I would be interested to know what the council has to say about this suggestion.

Donise Perkins
De Vere Road
Colchester

...I am sure everyone feels so sorry for the poor taxi driver Kenneth Winfield, who got a parking ticket for parking in a loading bay zone.

What more do these cab drivers want? They can use bus lanes and their own parking bays and still this is not enough for them.

Why does he not park in the back of Sainsbury’s, as he says he was picking someone up from there, instead of blocking a loading bay?

David Mills
Horrocks Close
Colchester