Driver may lose 'blue badge' over £30,000 fines

Published on Thursday 16 October 2008 22:04

COUNCIL officials may strip a disabled driver of his blue badge after he clocked up £30,000 of parking fines in a year.

John Cranston has received more than 330 parking tickets from Edinburgh City Council for leaving his car on double yellow lines outside his flat. The 28-year-old said pain from kidney stones left him unable to walk further.

However, council officials said the vehicle had been parked dangerously on a bend in the road in "blatant disregard" for parking regulations.

They said there was ample space in Henderson Street in Leith, where Mr Cranston lives, and he is also permitted to park on single yellow lines.

Mr Cranston said: "I have had no alternative but to park there. Without my car, I would be housebound."

He said he had initially tried to appeal against the fines and asked the council for a disabled parking bay.

He added: "They said no because there wasn't enough space and told me I was liable for 10,000 in fines. I thought I might as well carry on parking there. I have nothing to lose. They won't get a penny from me."

Mr Cranston, who is unemployed, said: "They can try and take me to court, but I don't have any money to give them. I'll declare myself bankrupt."

The council said Mr Cranston had been sent "numerous" letters in an attempt to resolve the situation. A spokesman said: "He's parking on the only restricted area in Henderson Street, which needs to be restricted for emergency access and pedestrian safety. He can park anywhere else.

"We will continue to pursue him for payment of parking tickets and are considering the options available to us regarding his abuse of the blue badge scheme."

David Griffiths, the chief executive of Ecas, an Edinburgh disability group, said: "While sympathetic to the needs of all drivers with severe mobility impairments, we could not countenance parking by anyone in a dangerous place, such that they put others at risk."

• An Edinburgh handyman who boasted about racking up 80,000 of parking fines in less than two years is believed to have been let off the hook because of a legal blunder.

Sandy Gillespie, who was described as "Scotland's biggest parking cheat", had received 472 tickets in Edinburgh in less than two years. He is understood to have changed his vehicle six times in an attempt to evade officials.