HUNDREDS of Brimbank drivers are parking illegally in disabled spaces, causing difficulty and distress to residents with mobility problems.
An average of 15 drivers are being caught every week by Brimbank Council officers.
So far this year, 430 people have been caught parking illegally in a disabled space.
A total of 798 drivers were nabbed last year, down from 864 in 2010.
But St Albans resident Renee Biewer, who is wheelchair-bound, told the Weekly the number of people illegally parking in disabled bays was much higher.
Ms Biewer, an amputee for 16 years, uses a modified car to drive.
She said council officers were unable to monitor the issue at privately owned premises, including hotel venues and supermarkets.
“Private facilities are the worst place for it,” she said. “People just park wherever they want without consideration to people with disabilities.
“Police are already stretched enough . . . they don’t have time to monitor the areas. The owners barely monitor the car parks so these people continue to do it without any consequences.”
Ms Biewer said she recently approached a driver who had parked illegally in a disabled space in Sunshine. She said the person took her crutch as she was trying to take down their registration and tried to attack her with it.
“People are ignorant to the fact that not only do people with disabilities need the park because it’s close to the venue, but they need the space to open the door wide enough to get in and out of their car.”
She said most offenders were middle-aged drivers “who should know better”.
“They always say, ‘I was going to be five minutes’. It doesn’t matter how long you are going to be, you are breaking the law and disadvantaging a disabled person.”
Brimbank disability advisory committee chairman Peter Thomson called for the state government to implement harsher penalties for offenders. The current penalty is $141.
“There should be something like the hoon hotline,” he said. “Dob an offender in as they go. There’s actually a similar method of dealing with these offenders in New South [Wales] and I don’t know why the hell there’s nothing like that in Victoria.”
Mr Thomson said the issue was the subject of many of the committee’s meetings.
“For people with disabilities in Brimbank it’s an issue close to their hearts. We want to see higher fines so that people don’t continue to do it once they have been caught.”
Brimbank’s Acting Inspector Jenny Wilson said police were unable to monitor privately owned premises like shopping centres.
“The responsibility is up to the owner of the space and we encourage them to actively enforce those regulations,” she said.
The council’s acting general manager of city development, Stuart Menzies, said illegal parking in disabled parking bays was an issue for all municipalities.
He said the council actively enforced parking laws to maximise parking for people with disabilities. “Our surveillance of disabled parking areas remains a priority,” he said.
Over the past year, the council had responded to 33 complaints about illegal parking in disabled bays. More than 10,000 disabled parking permits have been issued to Brimbank residents and 300 disabled parking bays are available in council-owned car parks.
