Not even a modicum of respect for the rights of disabled tourists here

I have been on holiday here for the past 10 days and I can’t believe how ignorant people are with regards showing any respect for their visitors. Do they not realise that it’s the tourists that keep the island going?

Why are signs put on the roads stating speeds when the country doesn’t stick to them? As for drivers who don’t know the highway code – that’s if there is one here – they come up right behind you, trying to make you go faster and then, when it is (or isn’t) safe, they zoom past you at 90km when you are in a 30km area.

As for parking, it is terrible. I am a disabled person and carry a badge with me at all times as I know I can use it here in Cyprus, but trying to find a disabled parking place that is free is impossible.

Cars are parked in disabled places when they shouldn’t be, or the car next door is left at such an angle that you can’t get into a disabled space or, if you can, when you get back to the car, you can’t get in. A disabled parking space is for those who cannot walk far, not for those who don’t want to walk far.

Even in shops, people are very rude; they push by you, they don’t move when you ask them to and they don’t even say thank you when you pay for your purchases.

I don’t write to newspapers that often but I felt I had to this time. I come from the UK and this is the only holiday I get each year due to disability. I come to try and relax, but with the way I am treated wherever I go, I do not think I will be back.

Christine Judge

UK

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.