650 dim drivers fined for parking in handicapped spaces

By Evie Andreou

POLICE have issued 3,000 parking tickets this year, with just under a quarter of that, or 650 fines for motorists who parked on spaced reserved for the handicapped, traffic chief Yiannakis Charalambous said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference to mark the international day of persons with disabilities, Charalambous said that the police is launching an awareness campaign to clamp down on illegal parking on pavements and places reserved for the handicapped.

He added that there has been a significant rise in the number of people who illegally use the blue card that allows truly disabled people to park in spaces for the handicapped.

“There will be zero tolerance to those who deliberately break the law,” Charalambous said.

He said that drivers need to put an end to this behaviour and show respect to the rights of pedestrians and of the disabled.

Demetris Lambrianides, head of the Paraplegics Association, said that there are around 2,000 permanent users of wheelchairs with acute kinetic disability and several hundred users of wheelchairs with less severe forms of disability.

He called on the police to strictly enforce the law and called on House president Yiannakis Omirou to push through a bill that will allow the towing of vehicles that park illegally on pavements and places reserved for the handicapped.

Lambrianides also appealed to the labour ministry to find a way to make it difficult to copy the blue card which has been abused by non-beneficiaries.

“No other badge gives the right to anyone to park in these spaces and we expect the state to application the legislation strictly,” he said.

To mark the day, the Confederation of the Organisations of the Disabled issued a declaration asking the government to proceed with legislation aimed to upgrade the quality of life of disabled people, as prescribed by the relevant UN convention.

“The despairing situation of our disabled citizens demands dynamic and effective policies that will allow them not just to dream of a better quality of life, but also allow them to exercise their basic rights,” the declaration said.

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