Public try to stop illegal parking

By ALANAH MAY ERIKSEN
Pixie O'Dell doesn't have a disability but she's angry on behalf of those who do.
Ms O'Dell was recently waiting for a burger in the drive-through at Rotorua's Burger King and noticed a non-disability card holder parked in a disability park. That got her fired up.
She marched over and asked if the man in the driver's seat of the ute realised he was in a disability park.
He told her he felt badly about being there but a staff member at Burger King had told him to park there while he waited for his food.
The man still had his motor running and seemed genuine so she believed him.
Then she vented her anger at Burger King.
"I thought 'how dare they'. I think it's disgusting I really do."
Ms O'Dell went to the City Focus to see the manager Dennis Olliver to ask what could be done.
He said nothing because the land was owned by Pukeroa Oruawhata Holdings and their staff patrolled the parks, not the Rotorua District Council parking wardens.
Ms O'Dell left an angry message with Pukeroa Oruawhata.
"There are not enough disability parks as it is. It's bad enough being disabled," she said.

"I have never parked in a disability park in my life. I make a point of telling people who park in them not to.
"I leave angry messages. I am really good at embarrassing people."
Ms O'Dell finds the issue especially disturbing as she has worked with disabled people as a caregiver and has disabled relatives.
Staff at Rotorua's Burger King would not comment and messages left by the Daily Post with the chain's head office in Auckland were not returned.
Malcolm Short of Pukeroa Oruawhata Holdings said his organisation had security staff patrolling most parks in the mall area but Burger King patrolled those outside its own outlet.
"It is entirely up to Burger King what they do with the parks, but if they are dedicated disability parks they probably shouldn't get people to park in them," Mr Short said.
Jim Nicklin, the Rotorua District Council's regulatory services manager, said people should get the message that unless they were entitled, they should not park in disability parks.
The council recently caught out a motorist who parked outside the Rotorua District Court in a disability park without an appropriate card.
She put a previously received parking ticket on her windscreen to trick parking wardens into thinking she had already been issued with one for parking there, Mr Nicklin said.
The council was called and she was given a ticket.
Court staff, who did a background check on her registration plates, found she also had unpaid fines so she had her wheels clamped.
"The moral of the story is don't abuse the parking. The woman didn't get away with it and neither will anyone else who tries it."