I am disabled and have been given a £50 parking fine – it’s a 5 minute limit, there’s nothing I can do in that time

A DISABLED woman has been stunned after being fined £50 for parking in a city car park.

Emily Overton thought she could park for 50 minutes as a blue badge holder.

2

2

But she was slapped with the fine after parking in the car park in Hill Street, Birmingham, where the time limit is just five minutes and no return within two hours.

The 34-year-old woman suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Now Emily is trying to appeal the £50 fee, which will be reduced to £25 if paid within two weeks.

Emily tells BirminghamLivesaid: “No disabled person can do anything in five minutes. It is ridiculous. They need a much longer window of opportunity.”

Because of her condition, she is in constant pain and has to take 15 pills at night.

On January 18, she drove downtown and parked in the nearest handicapped space on Hill Street.

She said: “I misread the sign as it takes 50 minutes as most disabled spaces are longer than five minutes.

“I came back thinking it was 50 minutes and I found a ticket on my screen.

“He had watched my car for 20 minutes and noticed that I was violating the conditions that the sign said.

“But what really amazes me is that no disabled person can do anything in five minutes. Why the five-minute sign?”

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “There is a designated disabled bay on Hill Street to facilitate the dropping off of disabled badge holders – helping to serve those who need access to New Street Station.

“The bay is restricted to a maximum stay of five minutes and signage clearly alerts motorists to this restriction.

“The surrounding streets and car parks offer a mix of parking options for blue badge holders who want to stay longer.”

Blue badge holders may park on yellow single or double lanes that do not have loading restrictions for a maximum stay of three hours.

A time clock must be displayed next to the blue plaque to show the time of arrival and vehicles must not be parked in a way that creates an obstruction.