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29th Nov 2022

Woman fuming after being fined by ‘smug’ parking warden while she bought pie for her mum

Charlie Herbert

She’s branded the parking warden ‘evil’

A woman in Scotland was left furious after a parking warden fined her whilst she was collecting a steak pie for her disabled mum.

Martha McCrone was fined £30 after parking in a loading bay in town, and walking two doors down to Pollok Williamson’s butchers in Ayr, on November 4.

She says there were no disabled bays available for her to park in and that she only left her car for “minutes.”

By the time she got back to her vehicle with the steak pie she was picking up for her elderly mother, Agnes, she found a parking warden “with a smug look on his face” beside her vehicle.

She told Ayrshire Live: “I can’t believe I was booked when just going into the butchers to collect a steak pie.”

She left her mother, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, in the car as she went to collect the ready-made order.

Martha has refuted suggestions that she had abused her mother’s blue badge.

But Scottish law says that if the Blue Badge holder is not getting out of the vehicle, they should not use it to get a parking space.

They cannot park in loading/unloading bays, unless signs specify time limits for badge holders.

Speaking about the incident on November 4, Martha said: “It was at 4pm and it was pouring of rain. I have a blue badge for my mum but there was no disabled bays at all.

“There was work going on at the other side of the road. I parked in a loading bay and walked two doors down to the shop.

“When I got back the attendant was there. I went up and tried to explain. He had a smug look on his face.

“He just ignored everything I had told him, he just said ‘will I hand you it or will I stick it on the car.’ I thought it was just so cruel and evil to do that really.”

Addressing accusations she had abused her mother’s blue badge, she said: “I don’t abuse the blue badge but there wasn’t any available spaces and I was in the shop less than a minute.

“It would have taken me 10 minutes to get my mum out the car and into a wheelchair.

“The whole thing has really put me off coming into town. There is not enough spaces available and it is more hassle than what it is worth.”

A spokesperson for Ayrshire Roads Alliance said: “Blue Badge holders are entitled to park in many places which are normally off limits, however there are rules which the holders must adhere to.

“One of the rules is that holders should not allow non-disabled people to take advantage of their parking benefits while they sit in the car.”

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