You've got my car park, do you want my disability?

By Alanah May Eriksen
If you've ever stolen a mobility car park, you may have had a blast from Steve Anderson.

The Rotorua man, who has multiple sclerosis, has no qualms about leaving a pointed message on the windscreen of cars parking illegally in mobility spaces.





He has two versions - "You got my park, do you want my disability too?" and "Stupidity is not a disability, park somewhere else".

"I get really angry, riled up. I don't blow a fuse but I want to," he told the Daily Post.

"It means the difference between me being able to hobble to the shop on foot or having to get the wheelchair out."

Mr Anderson's multiple sclerosis means he often has to use a wheelchair to get around. If he parks close enough to his destination, he can walk. That's if an able-bodied person hasn't stolen the park already.

According to the Rotorua District Council, at least one parking ticket a day is issued for illegally parked vehicles in mobility spaces.

"It's such an inconvenience, having to get the chair in and out of the boot, pushing myself around, it's a pain," he said.People who park in disability carparks are the focus of CCS awareness week, which began yesterday.

The "Caught" campaign aims to reduce misuse of mobility parks.

To park in one you must display in your windscreen a plastic card issued by CCS, which assesses whether you qualify or not. Mr Anderson is urging everyone to think twice before they park in a disability car park.

Mr Anderson, who is completing a journalism diploma at Waiariki Institute of Technology, said there was a sign over the mobility park at Waiariki saying 'display sticker or you'll be clamped' but this didn't stop students parking there, he said.

Jim Nicklin, manager of regulatory services at the Rotorua District Council, said that in the year ending June 2006, the council gave out 419 $40 tickets to people parking in mobility parks without a card.

"It's more than one a day. It's far too many.

"People have no conscience to abuse parking like that. The level of illegal use is rather high."

There are 62 mobility parks in the central business district of Rotorua.

CCS mobility parking manager Peter Wilson said the parks were about permit holders being able to do the same things as everyone else - work, shopping, sport and education.

"CCS needs people to understand that mobility parking allows permit holders to get on with their day. What we're saying is 'Block my space and you block my day'," he said.

The "Caught" campaign includes advertising on billboards, buses, radio, posters and an internet film.