Nuxx:F67bc98a-f8a6-423c-aba7-e4cf9c04a4d0@o20g2000vbh.googlegroups.com

Path: num2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!num1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!number.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!postnews.google.com!o20g2000vbh.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Message-ID:  From: Nuxx Bar  Newsgroups: uk.rec.cycling Subject: OT: Disabled Pensioner Fined for Displaying Badge Upside Down Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:36:24 -0700 (PDT) Lines: 113 Organization: http://groups.google.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.156.150.242 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: posting.google.com 1245526584 27320 127.0.0.1 (20 Jun 2009 19:36:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:36:24 +0000 (UTC) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: o20g2000vbh.googlegroups.com; posting-host=81.156.150.242; posting-account=7_6kYAkAAABD6HrjM0VxehwvZOKMxm4g User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729),gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Bytes: 6279 Xref: perfectly-safe.chapmancentral.co.uk uk.rec.cycling:710894

What makes the war on motorists particularly deplorable is when vulnerable members of our society are victimised, simply for choosing the only mode of transport which is remotely appropriate for them. Disabled people have it hard enough as it is: we should be doing our best to help them rather than bullying and stealing from them.

It is incidents like the below which lead me to believe that those who give unqualified support to the current traffic enforcement regime are unquestionably anti-motorist. No-one but a car-hater, and a particularly cold-hearted one, could possibly condone the actions of the council here. Anyone who truly supported draconian parking enforcement for legitimate, non-anti-motorist reasons would still take exception to cases like this. Only someone who wanted *all* motorists to be indiscriminately punished for driving would think that things like this were in any way a good thing. How is this sort of thing in the public interest in any way, unless you believe that the public interest is served by hounding *all* motorists off the roads?

This kind of thing just shows how utterly mean-spirited and detestable the war on the motorist, and those who are behind it (as well as those who support it), really are. It goes against everything which is decent about humanity. Those who decide to persecute anyone who travels in a certain way (no matter how necessary it is) are unlikely to be pleasant, reasonable people, but even so, if we must shit all over motorists then we should at least spare the disabled, the elderly and other helpless people from the suffering that is deliberately inflicted at every opportunity.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193340/Disabled-pensioner-hit-75-p= arking-fine-displaying-blue-badge-wrong-way-round.html

Disabled pensioner is hit with =A375 parking fine for displaying blue badge upside down

Parking wardens have hit a disabled pensioner with a =A375 fine because he displayed his 'blue badge' the wrong way round.

Great grandfather Ron Padwick, 76, placed his badge - with all the details visible - on the dashboard facing towards the driver's seat when he parked in a disabled bay.

He went for a cup of tea with a friend, but was stunned to find a penalty notice stuck on the windscreen of his blue BMW when he returned 15 minutes later. Ron Padwick fined for displaying blue badge upside down

Furious: Ron Padwick, 76, was fined =A375 for displaying his disabled badge upside down on his car dashboard

The retired marketing director must now pay the =A375 fine within a month or face prosecution.

Mr Padwick, who lives with wife Ellaine, 60, in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, said: 'It was absolutely clear that I had a legitimate disabled badge and the car was correctly parked.

'I placed the badge on the dashboard. The only complaint was that it would have appeared upside down when the warden stood at the front of the car.

'Any ordinary person would have walked to the driver's side so that they could read all the dates on it.

'But to be fined just because they were too petty to look, smacks of the draconian police state we live in.

'I'm an elderly disabled man who has served for his country and this is how they repay you. It's disgusting.'

Mr Paddick, who did two years National Service, was issued the disabled parking badge nine months ago after a deteriorating spine problem meant he could only walk a few yards.

The father-of-two still has difficulty walking, despite having a ten- hour operation at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham three months ago.

He has used the badge every day since it was issued with a problem and 'never thought twice' about the position it was displayed in.

One side of the badge has his photograph on it and the other has a wheelchair symbol and the issue date.

He had laid the badge diagonally on the car dashboard with the correct side facing upwards but pointing towards the driver's seat when he parked near a cafe in Leominster.

The parking warden who issued the ticket put a note on his windscreen saying the badge was not 'displayed in the correct manner'.

Mr Paddick, who has two grandchildren and a great grandchild, has vowed to appeal.

He said: 'Nobody ever told me that it's illegal to have the badge incorrectly laid out.

'It wasn't perfectly straight because I was in a rush but the warden could have shown a little bit of consideration.'

Herefordshire Council has refused to back down on the fine, because it says the display rules are clearly laid out.

A spokesman said: 'All blue badge holders are request to display their badge the right way around so that the expiry date is visible.

'Instructions on how to display the badge are clearly laid out in the terms and conditions of use issued with the pass.

'If it is not displayed properly, this may result in a penalty notice being issued.

'Regarding the case under discussion, the badge was displayed the wrong way around, which is why a penalty notice was issued.'