A WOMAN who parked illegally in a disabled bay blamed the credit crunch for making her 'cut corners'.
Helen Cartwright, 25, said it was the fault of her increased mortgage rate - magistrates added to her bills by ordering her to pay £1,605.
Cartwright, manager of Café Lloyd, on Lloyd Street, Manchester, was among three badge cheats to be prosecuted by Manchester council.
She was seen on CCTV by a council enforcement officer parking a black BMW in a pay and display parking bay on Lloyd Street.
Cartwright, of Linnets Wood Mews, Walkden, displayed a disabled badge that had been issued to someone called Khadra Rashed by the London borough of Waltham Forest. When she left she was followed by the enforcement officer.
The next morning she again parked on Lloyd Street and displayed the bogus badge, so the enforcement officer issued a penalty notice and the car was impounded.
Miss Cartwright claimed she found the badge on a garage forecourt in London and admitted using it every day.
She told the court: "At first I didn't use it, but coming into financial difficulty, as I got a new mortgage rate, it was use the badge and save £40 or £50 a week or default on my mortgage. It was a case of losing the house or cutting corners."
Speaking of disabled people, she then added: "I agree with priority parking, but if they don't pay it's wrong. People who work in this country pay everything and get no help at all.
"But if you're disabled or on the dole you get everything done for you. You get fleeced if you're a hard-working person in this country."
Magistrates fined her £650 for each offence, plus £290 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
Chairwoman Gillian Ollerenshaw told her: "This has been a flagrant breach of the law and principles of the scheme. You have shown no remorse. We assume you would have continued had you not been caught."
Earlier in the day police janitor Malcolm Haberfield, of Cambridge Road, Droylsden, admitted two charges of using a disabled badge that belonged to his mother-in-law. He was ordered to pay a total of £1,050.
Anna Tomlinson, of Hortree Road, Stretford, admitted parking in a disabled bay on Oxford Street, with a badge issued to her late relative, Ursula Kaczmarek. She was ordered to pay a total of £815.
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Beaufort (09/10/2008 at 08:37)
However she is right when she says 'People who work in this country pay everything and get no help at all'
That is not a good plea in her case about the parking but you can see the temptation to save £50.
Take my situation. Northern Rocka stick my mortgage up by 56% so I now pay £1456, an extra £490 per month. The flat maintenance company ( a well know city centre estate agent) forgot to pay the communal electricity bill for three years so everybody's monthly flat maintenance bill went up by £70 a month to cover. I can't sell the property as it has been on the market for eighteen months and only one viewing. I paid £230 from the developer five years ago and it is now on at £180k.
I am now £550 per month down and have £100 to spend on food.
The council wants me to pay £1250 to drive into town too.
PW, Manchester (09/10/2008 at 08:54)
Jay B, oldham (09/10/2008 at 09:19)
but what happens to the millions of pound genratated by parking fees? whats it spent on?
if a con charge comes in and the amount of cars parking is reduced what happens to the things this money is spent on?
Jomov (09/10/2008 at 09:57)
If she wants to save some money, like someone said, she can use pt or sell her car and get a cheaper one.
There are other options.
Beaufort (09/10/2008 at 10:06)
Should she drive her kids to school, drive back home, walk to the bus stop, stand in the rain for he bus, get off at the cash and carry and then attempted to car a car bootful of food and drink on the bus?
Get the facts first.
Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (09/10/2008 at 10:57)
What a totally despicable statement to make especially as she wasn't exactly leaving the cash behind her windscreen wipers for the parking attendant who was checking her fake blue badge and I should think a real comfort for legitimate users of blue badges who have no legs for example.
She believes in priority parking ? When did society deem that the manageress of a greasy spoon should have priority parking ?
There's one crumb of comfort for her though which is that the magistrates court is just around the corner from her cafe and she was able to walk there with no trouble to register for her criminal record.
PW, Manchester (09/10/2008 at 11:24)
Dukey, ECCLES (09/10/2008 at 11:57)
Second Row Lump, Manchester (09/10/2008 at 12:07)
Beaufort, I can sympathise with your predicament regarding the increase in your mortgage and the drop in prices. However, you didn’t have to take a mortgage for 230K in a prestigious city center apartment.
Over building, over supply, poor quality and inflated prices have had an influence on your predicament. Top that off with the ‘con charge’ (which I feel will come regardless of the referendum result) and city center dwellers that have paid over the odds for their abodes will suffer!
Still, the ‘credit crunch’ is no excuse for using disabled parking illegally!
Donna. Harpurhey (09/10/2008 at 18:05)
Caroline Savage (09/10/2008 at 22:37)
Donna. Harpurhey (10/10/2008 at 13:07)
Last Pint of Holts, Middleton Manchester (10/10/2008 at 14:17)
My mate uses a wheel chair, he also works and pays a lot in taxes (as we all do, well some of us).
Until I went out in his car with him I didnt realise how valuable these spaces are to people who have disabilities.
Saying that, he has an issue with other disabled badge holders who have full movement and no issues with walking using the spaces as well.
But she is clearly wrong.
Derek Smith (10/10/2008 at 16:42)
Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (10/10/2008 at 17:27)
Edna Of Hyde, Hyde (11/10/2008 at 14:01)
Empty Head, Southport (11/10/2008 at 22:35)