Disabled pensioner 'tired' of being fined £70 for parking outside her own home

Maria Rodriguez, 76, has lived in her home for 23 years, but says she now faces a 'daily battle' to find a parking space

A 76-year-old disabled woman has claimed she's been slapped with dozens of fines for parking outside her own home. Maria Rodriguez, who lives in Sefton, England, says she's forced to park on a strip of double yellow lines as there's no resident parking permits or a disabled bay - despite five years of requests.

Sefton Council insists the fines are in line with national enforcement guidelines around parking rules. However, Maria argues the rules are too rigid and don't consider her personal circumstances.

It's understood that the penalty charge notices issued to Maria are due to incorrect display of her blue badge and time card, reports Liverpool Echo with Maria, for whom English is a second language, insisting she was told to place the blue badge on the side.

When asked if explanations could have been lost in translation, Maria agreed but said she has made her situation clear. A Blue Badge is a parking permit allowing people with disabilities to park closer to their destination.

Maria successfully applied for a Blue Badge and uses it daily for her weekly errands. However, the problems start when she returns home and tries to find a parking space. She is forced to park away from her house due to the lack of a disabled parking bay.

Maria said: 'I'm just tired of all this because I keep getting £70 fines for parking outside my own house. How can this be? I have lived here for 23 years and I remember the day that this [parking situation] changed. A machine came to do the yellow lines just on the corner - nowhere else. I had been asking for the disabled bay for many years but they didn't do that."

Maria is registered as having a disability and has mobility issues which impact her independence and ability to move around. One consequence of this is a greater reliance on her car and a need to have parking close to her front door. Without resident or disabled bay parking, Maria said her life has become a daily battle.

Maria added: "There are people that don't understand that [the need for appropriate parking for drivers with disabilities]. If people had someone in their family, they would probably understand and they could make their voice heard louder than mine because I live alone and it's difficult to get people to listen."

Asked whether she feels the council have made the effort to understand her need for accessible parking and to clarify display guidance, Maria said: "I contacted the council to explain, but all they say is that this [fine] needs to be paid."

A Sefton Council spokesperson made it clear that strict rules govern the use of Blue Badges: "There are a number of nationally set rules and responsibilities that must be adhered to when using a Blue Badge." They further iterated: "One of those rules states that all Blue Badge holders must ensure their badges or time clocks are displayed correctly and made visible in the vehicle they are using, regardless where they park. If this is not done so then a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) may be issued."