Campaigner welcomes success over disabled parking bays in town centre

A campaigner for better disabled parking amenities in Blackpool is celebrating some welcome success after a three year campaign.

Brian Roberts, 66, who lives in central Blackpool, says there are less than 10 full-time disabled parking bays in Blackpool, as many of the others become designated as taxi ranks after 6pm.

Seven of the full-time bays are on Clifton Street in the town centre but in recent years the road markings have worn away, meaning that some disabled drivers don’t know they are there, or that other drivers park on them.

Brian, a Blue Badge holder himself who has severe knee problems and needs to use crutches, has welcomed the new markings for this key area of the town.

He said: “One of the many concerns raised about disabled parking in Blackpool was the faded road markings for the disabled bays on Clifton Street.

“I am happy to report that after raising the matter with highways yet again at a meeting in February, the bays have now been re-painted and are clearly defined.

“This is vital for disabled people trying use the shops and amenities in Blackpool town centre. If you really struggle to walk, it can be an absolute nightmare trying to get to the places you need to go without decent parking facilities

“It’s also important that they are full-time bays. If you wan to go to a restaurant at night, it’s no good to a disabled person if a parking bay has reverted to a taxi rank after 6pm.

“I’d like to thank Blackpool Council for sorting this out.”

Despite the latest developments, Brian feels more needs be done to improve disabled parking amenities in the town, after discovering that there are fewer than 100 disabled parking spaces for more than 10,000 Blue Badge-holders in the resort overall.

He says he will continue to campaign and says: “More needs to be done. For example, there are currently no full-time disabled parking bays on  Blackpool promenade. That isn’t good enough.”

However Blackpool Council says there are plenty of places to park for people with a disability, with hundreds of disabled parking bays across the town.

It says people with a blue badge can also park in any of 3,000 pay and display bays for free or in any of the thousands of car parking spaces throughout Blackpool.