Heartless wardens left my disabled girl in cold

February 05, 2010

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Steven Waterhouse, 37, drove from his home in Marple, Stockport, to Spring Gardens in Manchester for a day out with six-year-old Carys at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The father of a severely disabled girl has accused Manchester's parking wardens of having 'no human compassion' - after his car was towed from a disabled bay leaving them stranded.

Steven Waterhouse, 37, drove from his home in Marple, Stockport, to Spring Gardens in Manchester for a day out with six-year-old Carys at the Museum of Science and Industry. Carys has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is only mobile if pushed in a wheelchair.

Steven left his daughter's disabled badge at home but was assured by THREE parking wardens it would be fine to park in a disabled bay anyway.

He was told he would get a ticket but that he would then be able to appeal it and get his money back.

Half an hour later, when Steven and Carys returned, the car was gone – leaving Carys screaming in freezing temperatures and Steven at a loss as to how to get to the compound and find the £140 to release it.

Gob-smacked

Steven said: “I was absolutely gob-smacked and I am still reeling about it. My daughter was beside herself. It was freezing cold. I was told I could park there by the wardens.

“But there was no human compassion at all. It would be interesting to know if it was one of the wardens I spoke to who towed it.”

Steven took a cab to the compound with Carys and eventually managed to pay to have his car released – after being made to wait for another 20 minutes because he didn't have the disability badge number.

He said: “Why would I know the number off by heart? I pay my taxes and this is how I'm treated. What I am most disgusted about was the attitude of the people I spoke to.

“They spoke to me as if I was a criminal.”

Manchester council said Mr Waterhouse will be reimbursed the cost of releasing the car – but insisted the wardens acted correctly.

A spokesman said: "This was a prime bay in the centre of town allocated for disabled use. As a badge was not displayed our warden would have had no idea that a wheelchair user was a passenger in the car.

“All blue badge holders should be aware that they need to display their badge if they park in a disabled bay. We will nevertheless cancel the ticket and reimburse the cost of the recovery of the vehicle, once we have seen a valid blue badge."

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thoughtful, East of Manchester (05/02/2010 at 08:46)

What does this man expect? He would probably be one of the first (and rightly so) if the wardens allowed non disabled people to park in disabled spaces. He forgot the badges that are required to allow him to park there - no one else - him, and that is his responsibility.

Surely he must have known what the consequences were likely to be? Just because a few wardens saw him with his daughter that did not mean all of them on that beat did, and to call someone who acts within the rules doing their job - heartless is unacceptable.

Of course the real heartless person is the father who is the only one to blame in all this. If he had accepted that without the blue badge he was not allowed to park there, and paid like everyone else then this would never had happened. I think he's very lucky to be getting the fines & towing fees back, because they were all charged correctly.

You can bet that he never parks in a disabled bay without a blue badge again though!

the peoples man, crompton (05/02/2010 at 08:51)

...and then has the cheek to go running and telling tales to a newspaper! Pathetic.

Hurry O'Caine - the Irish Whirlind, Typhoon Tipperary (05/02/2010 at 08:52)

Womble, Westhoughton (05/02/2010 at 09:00)

Why doesn't he just keep the badge in the car?

Stickman, Bury (05/02/2010 at 09:08)

he only has himself to blame. another non-story from the MEN. trying to criticise the Council when it was obviously the drivers fault.

annon (05/02/2010 at 09:09)

anyone in their right mind would have driven back for the badge....It was only stockport he travelled from, not Australia

Blue Haze, Manchester (05/02/2010 at 09:12)

It's a difficult one because no badge was displayed and there are so many parking cheats out there (we only have to read the MEN to see that). Are parking wardens expected to radio eachother, telling them all not to ticket or remove certain cars who's owners are not displaying a badge ? The article says Mr Waterhouse was only gone for half an hour but he was on a day out at the museum. I suspect he was gone all day and another shift of wardens had come on duty and of course, they had no knowledge of his issue. To them, the car belonged to someone trying to avoid parking charges and it was correctly removed. However, it's clear Mr Waterhouse has a genuine reason for owning a blue badge for his daughter's disability but it should be in the car at all times to prevent this sort of thing from happening to genuinely disabled people.

canonball, inside the helmet (05/02/2010 at 09:20)

I cannot believe some of the Comments on this page.Have a heart for the little Child.What ever happened to Northern compassion?

Henrys Dog, Rochdale (05/02/2010 at 09:21)

I doubt you lot are all perfect. Like you've never forgotten something.

This guy probably has to take a suitcase with him for his little girls essentials everytime they pop out so i think he can be forgiven forgetting a badge.
His problem isnt that his car was towed his problem is that the he explained to the wardens who saw his daughter and they TOLD him they would only ticket his car.

Granted he should probably keep it in the car or have left a note on the car. But have a think about that little girl before you all climb on your high horses.

Mancunian and Proud, Manchester (05/02/2010 at 09:24)

thoughtful - I dont think so. the peoples man - does not sound like it. You guys should change your user names except for womble which seems quite fitting.

I have a relative in a similar situation, he works hard to look after his disabled son, harder than you can imagine. People forget things, he's human. There is no compassion in society anymore, its been killed of by jobsworths and paperwork. Could one of the Traffic Wombles he spoke to not put a ticket on the car to communicate to other Traffic Wombles they saw a disabled girl get out of the car. Could that not have prevented this situation and the holier than thou comments posted on this website.

Jay B, oldham (05/02/2010 at 09:49)

ok so its this blokes fault that he got the car towed away because he forgot his badge. if this is the case why did he not just park in a normal parking space for this one off occasion.

BUT!

why dont the parking wardens do this to every footballers car that seems to park illegally around the city? just because its a flash car doesnt give them the right to just get a ticket! tow them away like this and charge them the extra release charge for getting their car back! maybe the inconvinence of having no car and the fine might make them think twice (ok maybe not) but its more time wasted for them.

tiggerluc, somewhere in shaw (05/02/2010 at 09:49)

Shame Mr Waterhouse didn't take the badge numbers of the three traffic wardens.

To take it to the next level - is there any CCTV cameras in the area that ccould have caught Mr Waterhouse talking to the three traffic wardens as evidence?

Mike, Manchester (05/02/2010 at 09:56)

Having failed to deal with real criminals properly, the system has shifted its focus onto softer and more compliant members of society.

ThinkTank, North Mcr (05/02/2010 at 09:59)

Have to agree, some of the comments here are ridiculous. Some people on here only write things to get a reaction.
'Anyone in their right mind would have driven back to Stockport'? No they wouldn't, thats ridiculous.
It is a story, a very good one, because at least it warns us all of the money-making, heartless agenda's of our Council and it's employees. I'm also pretty sure that it would have been one of the 3 wardens he spoke to that sneakily came back and got it towed away.

ThinkTank, North Mcr (05/02/2010 at 10:02)

No sympathy. You get given an enormous free priviledge - i.e. free and almost uncontrolled parking and you can't even be bothered to remember the badge. I hpe you explained to your poor little girl that it was ALL your fault. Talk about molly coddled Britain. pah!
And i've just read this and i'm even more shocked! Try spending a day caring for a severely disabled person and see if that is still an 'enormous free privilege'.
You're a joke.

thoughtful, East of Manchester (05/02/2010 at 10:06)

Mancunian and Proud It's diffiuclt to read some sense into your post! Of course people have sympathy with disabled people, but as has been said, they are given the blue badge so that legitamate parking can be allowed. If you forget the badge then you are just another driver and have to play by the rules that everyone else has.

To say that every parking warden needs to be informed that a forgetful man has not got his blue badge, and couldn't be bothered to go & get it, is living in cloud cuckoo land! This is nothing to do with compassion.

The father could have written a little note with the names of the parking wardens he spoke to, but he did nothing. I have to say that I agree he did not spend only 30 minutes at the museum, that would have been a trip to the door and back again! Maybe he forgot something else?

Let me just paint you the picture of what you are suggesting Mancunian - that every single vehicle parked in a disabled bay without correct badges, just might belong to a genuine disabled person, and therefore no tickets should be issued and no cars towed - just in case. I wonder how long it would be before the disabled had nowhere to park?

fande koi (05/02/2010 at 10:13)

No sympathy. You get given an enormous free priviledge - i.e. free and almost uncontrolled parking and you can't even be bothered to remember the badge. I hpe you explained to your poor little girl that it was ALL your fault. Talk about molly coddled Britain. pah!
Hurry O'Caine - the Irish Whirlind, Typhoon Tipperary

Hurry O caine, are you for real? Enormous free privilege? Im sure he's really grateful that his daughter has quadriplegic cerebral palsy just so he can get a blue badge. Why on earth does the MEN let pig ignorant people post such pig ignorant rubbish?

fande koi (05/02/2010 at 10:33)

B V Flute, Newton Moor
5/02/2010 at 10:22

I agree mate. I also extend it to hurry o caine.

Moorlok, London (05/02/2010 at 10:41)

B V Flute, Newton Moor

Well said!.....these oafs and their council of cretins are only interested in screwing money from the motorist 'cash cow', as if they don't already prise money from us with thumbscrews as it is by way of council tax! How heartless and mean spirited!!

I suppose the poor poppets have to keep their expenses topped up or they may miss their smoked salmon and chardonnay suppers!!

Brook Lands (05/02/2010 at 10:42)

I hope and pray that the traffic warden who had their car towed away has a terrible tragedy within his immediate family, no less than what is deserved.
B V Flute, Newton Moor

Seriously? You really want that?

Very glad I don't know you personally, you're a nasty piece of work aren't you?

castlefieldres, manchester (05/02/2010 at 10:43)

I hope and pray that the traffic warden who had their car towed away has a terrible tragedy within his immediate family, no less than what is deserved.
B V Flute, Newton Moor
5/02/2010 at 10:22
______________________________________________________________

Pathetic, childish and idiotic.

You're really 'hoping and praying' that a serious accident happens to one of his/ her family? How old are you?

John Terry's Libido, Chelsea (05/02/2010 at 10:54)

I think there are some sad lonely spitefull posters on this board.

I hope you are treated in the same uncompassionate way these 2 have been treated. You are basically saying there is no more trust in the world so you shouldn't have listened to the wardens in the first place.

Keyboard warriors are so tough behined their monitors yet out in public I bet they are scared lonely people with little to no friends.

All of them heartless and wouldn't show compassion to a disabled child? I hope what goes around comes around but i'm guessing by how spitefull you are then it's already been around to you.

PaulD (05/02/2010 at 11:00)

I'm afraid the driver can only blame himself for this daughter's plight. He forgot the badge, and He failed to put a note in the car. By towing his car the Council cleared a space for a disabled driver who was obeying the rules. Spring Gardens is so far from MS&I why was he parking there anyway?

Hurry O'Caine - the Irish Whirlind, Typhoon Tipperary (05/02/2010 at 11:11)

PaulD. I thought the same. Why did he park so far away?

Ace Riley, outsidethebox (05/02/2010 at 11:38)

Manchester council said Mr Waterhouse will be reimbursed Im sorry but he should be made to pay the money? he broke the rules so he must pay he would expect a disable bay abuser to pay the fine if he could not use a bay.sorry but it cannot be one rule for him and another for somebody else "as a disabled driver myself i would expect to pay a fine if i didnt display my badge in a disabled bay.

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