I was slapped with THREE parking fines despite having my blue badge on display – I’ve never had to cough up fees before
A PENSIONER has been slapped with three parking fines despite having his blue badge on display.
Daniel Spencer, 83, has been forced to fork out £200 after he left his motor in a spot near to Bolton Market.
The grandad claims he's parked on the street and displayed his disability badge multiple times over the years with no problems.
But a parking meter was introduced in August this year - fining anyone who hasn't paid, even with a badge.
Daniel slammed the change for "not being clearly advertised" - as others also complain.
He told : “I have parked on this road on numerous occasions over the years with my badge displayed without any problem or requirement for payment, so with that in mind I assumed the letter I received may be a scam and my granddaughter helped me appeal it instead of paying the fine.”
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After hearing nothing back, Daniel drove down to check out the new system which only accepts payments through an app.
It was there he was palmed off by workers in the office who informed him the company was private and there wasn't much they could do about the fines.
He added: "You must pay for parking via the app, which is inaccessible to pensioners and people who aren’t online, they don’t use the internet.”
And in the time he waited to hear back about his appeal, two more fines were posted through Daniel's letterbox even though his badge continued to be displayed.
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Bolton Council has said Daniel isn't the only one to complain about the new payment system in the months since.
A spokesperson said: “The market car park on Ashburner Street is operated by NCP and accepts payment by cash, card or via the app.
“We’ve received a few complaints about Blue Badge users having to pay on the site as they thought it was free parking, which isn’t the case.
“Free parking is available around the town centre for Blue Badge users in any pay and display on-street parking bay, as well as the disabled bays located in the town centre.”
NCP, who now run the car park said blue badge holders must still pay for parking - and there is more than one way to pay for it.
They said: "We can confirm that blue badge holders do need to pay for their parking when parking at Ashburner Street.
"They are allowed to use the disabled bays as long as they have displayed their blue badge permit, and they have paid for their parking.
"We can also confirm that there are four different ways to pay for their parking on this site.
"They can pay by cash or card, they can pay by phone, or they can pay by App.
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"There are two payment machines on site and one of those machines is very close to the disabled bays.
"Although blue badge holders do need to pay for their parking on this site, they are able to park at no cost in one of our 12 disabled bays provided on our Octagon surface site car park for up to three hours, as long as they display their blue badge permit."