The Sick Moon Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 This one should be good! Affects two Douglas car parks. Disabled people will start paying for their parking spaces in the Island's capital from next week. That's been confirmed by Douglas Borough Council, which is taking over two car parks from the department of Infrastructure. It affects Chester Street and Drumgold Street car parks from the beginning of June. The prices start at £1.80 for an hour and up to £5.80 for more than seven hours at Chester Street car park. Environmental services committee chairman Councillor Ritchie McNicholl says drivers will only notice a minor change. He added the charges will bring the car parks in line with the rest of Douglas, such as Shaw's Brow, the Bottleneck and the King George V sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-in-man Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Being disabled does not mean you are poor so poor you need free parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 I bet a lot of disabled people are poor though. So should it be means tested? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-in-man Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Why not start another thread and ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annoymouse Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Mixed feelings about this, so if someone is disabled they now have to park their car, walk/wheel/shuffle their way to the ticket machine, then back to the car and then continue about their day, probably 10 minutes wasted before they start. They IMO should get some sort of discount on their parking, perhaps a 1hr ticket that actually covers them for 1hr 30m to allow for the extra time required.However I'd be happy to see those who display a disabled badge who appear to walk out of the car completely able bodied and without any assistance pay for their parking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 Why not start another thread and ask. That doesn't make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheldon Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I'm surprised there's been no attempt to charge the disabled extra, given the prime positions those spaces occupy. Trick missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Sausages Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 What was the reason for giving free parking to disabled? And why is that reason no longer valid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 Just a guess, but, What was the reason for giving free parking to disabled? The council didn't need the money. And why is that reason no longer valid? The council needs the money. Edit - council not government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 Environmental services committee chairman Councillor Ritchie McNicholl says drivers will only notice a minor change. Unless of course, they are disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 With the Equality Bill due to come in 'some time soon' I suppose it makes sense to treat everybody the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zammo Maguire Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Not just the disabled affected. The prices are going up for everyone http://www.manxforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/59102-free-parking-scrapped-for-disabled/ Huzzah. That's an 80% increase to park for an hour in Chester Street in the last six months or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Considering that the Island has still not put in place appropriate legislation to enable the disabled to gain access to places and facilities that the able bodied can in spite of Royal assent having been given to the statute which in itself is a national disgrace to now read that free parking is to be withdrawn is quite literally adding insult to injury. People who are disabled are unable to do the things that able bodied people are. To experience and enjoy what able bodied people are they need assistance. If they can drive then part of that assistance includes parking as close to where they want or need to go, and to charge for that is disgusting. To say that they should pay the same as the able bodied is also disgusting, I'll bet that there is not a single Blue Card holder who would not rip their Blue Card up in a moment if the could no longer need it by doing so. Did that really need to be spelt out? Seemingly it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
commish Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 http://www.manxforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/58838-douglas-council-car-parks/?hl=%2Bcar+%2Bparks Yes, so much for Phil Gawne's promise of no more above-inflation increases - they just pass on responsibility for a service to a local authority and let them increase the charges. How can the Council justify these increases? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Well it would be interesting to know how many disabled permits are in force and to what extent those disabilities are. I think the perception is that everyone is in a wheelchair or close to it and that may well not be the case. Are permits registered to a specific car too? Perhaps you get people using permits that are not actually disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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