Wirral Borough Council will remove markings on disabled bays in Parkhill Road, Birkenhead

Jul 8 2009 by Carrie Catterall, Birkenhead News

Wirral Borough Council will remove markings on disabled bays in Parkhill Road, Birkenhead

A DISGRUNTLED resident has accused Wirral Council of “giving in to bullies” over disabled parking.

Two years after Monica Faulkner, 65, applied for a disabled bay outside her house in Parkhill Road, Birkenhead, the council has said she can have it, but it is going to move the markings.

Now the white lettering on the outside of the seven bays in the road will be blacked out and repainted inside the bay.

This has come after a compromise between around 26 petitioners in the road and the council.

The petitioners said they didn’t want any more bays in the road because they make the area look “untidy”.

This means Parkhill Road will be the only road in Wirral to have disabled parking bays with the lettering on the inside.

Monica, who suffers from arthritis, multi-abdominal hernias, osteoporosis and hypertension, said: “To me, this is discrimination and if the council isn’t going to remove the paint on parking bays throughout the whole of Wirral, which I think would be a waste of money, then it’s not fair to just target one street – it’s ridiculous.

“I only want to make sure I can get to my home easily and I think this whole process has shown how selfish people can be.”

Birkenhead Councillor Frank Doyle said: “I’m happy that this extra disabled parking bay is going in for Monica but I think it should have gone through to committee first.

“I hope this situation doesn’t set a precedent, which could lead to further problems for the council.”

A council spokesman said: “The disabled parking bays are advisory and a solution to the objection has been agreed by repositioning the white lining identifying the bays.

“The petition has been withdrawn and the bay will be marked out as soon as possible.”