MARY SHANAHAN
Napier's disabled are to get free parking in the city's 23 mobility carparks - but overstayers will be fined like anyone else.
The city council agreed yesterday to Cr Deane Jessep's bid to end metered parking for cars displaying the CCS-issued mobility permits.
Mayor Barbara Arnott said Napier's parking wardens
were lenient in policing vehicles displaying the permits - "there has been only one infringement in the last however many years".
Cr Tony Jeffery said the permits entitled disabled people to use Hastings' metered and pay-and-display parks free of charge.
The disabled faced extra costs, he said - $45 for the permit, the cost of a medical check to get it, higher insurance company premiums and, for some, the additional expense of modifying their vehicles.
Cr Robin Gwynn said it was one issue on which Napier and Hastings could work together.
"It is bad (public relations) to be less humane than Hastings." Arguing against free mobility parking, Cr Faye White said the council needed to put its arm around many people in the community and most disabled did not want a leg-up.
