Mobility cards don't give drivers right to free parking

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Wanganui drivers who have a mobility card have been reminded that the card does not give them carte blanche to park wherever they like.

That message has come from the Wanganui District Council after a local woman complained to the Chronicle.

The elderly woman, who did not want to be named, said she was "surprised" to get a parking ticket even though she had displayed her mobility card in her vehicle when she had parked in a metered space in the inner city. She had bought the card in the early 2000s and said if the rules about its use had changed, she was not aware of it. And she said several of her friends had also received parking tickets.

But Melanie Heron, council's customer services group manager, said the mobility card did not give the holder the right to park in normal meter spaces for free.

"A mobility card only gives the holder the right to park in a mobility designated car space and it does not provide free parking," Ms Heron said.

She said rules governing the use of the cards had not changed so the meter must be paid, although parking wardens generally showed some leniency toward card holders.

"The council has worked with Sommerville Disability Support Services locally to ensure the message is given out and we have spoken at Grey Power meetings and to several other organisations as well."

Ms Heron said each local authority had its own process for disabled parking and she would advise anyone travelling to find out in advance just what rules applied in those centres.

Disabled drivers in Wanganui pay the same parking meter rates as other motorists and she said a parking fee still applied to specifically marked disability parking spaces as well "If signage indicates it is a paid parking space and the mobility car park is within that area, then yes."

However, she said council had set aside designated free mobility car parks mainly in St Hill St, Wicksteed St and Maria Pl.