One wonders at the seeming difficulties experienced by local councils and the Scottish Government in preventing fraud and protecting the rights of disabled drivers ("Plan to target parking fraud", The Herald, January 23).
It would seem the fraud issue is being addressed through Dennis Robertson's proposed Bill, and it is hoped Holyrood takes his proposal on board.
While the cancellation of the 4500 blue badges still registered to those who are deceased, preventing them from being used fraudulently, will release parking spaces, what about taking action against able-bodied drivers who use disabled spaces?
When challenged about their selfish actions, these drivers always seem to have the same aggressive threatening attitude. which although they do not appreciate it.
This is the problem that needs to be addressed once the fraud situation has been resolved.
Disabled drivers are not second-class citizens, but the Government has not provided the protection needed for what really is a minority group.
I have spent a week visiting a family member at Monklands Hospital. Every day many of the spaces marked for disabled badge holders were occupied by vehicles driven by able-bodied drivers. Not being a shrinking violet, I had no problem addressing these drivers when given the opportunity. Everyone challenged displayed the same aggressive attitude, many with expletives. In discussion with an older wheelchair-dependent driver, who was also denied a parking space, I was saddened by his comment when he said: "Ah son, I don't complain any more, nobody bothers."
In defence of Monklands Hospital, many vehicles were plastered with stickers telling drivers not to park in these spaces, which as the attendant said: "Is all we can do."
Is there any Government interest in addressing this problem?
James Paterson,
16 Orchill Drive,
Plains,
Airdrie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article