A black cab driver is fuming after being issued a parking ticket while he waited to pick up a disabled passenger. Jimmy Shankland received the ticket as he waited on double yellow lines for the customer outside a post office in Carlisle.
Mrs Hood, 85, who is blind and has been in a wheelchair for over two years, uses Mr Shankland’s hackney cab regularly to go out with her husband, who is her sole carer. The elderly couple take taxis twice a week to do their shopping and say they’ve never had a problem with taxis waiting on them before.
The cabbie argued that taxi drivers can wait for disabled passengers on double yellow lines and have a duty to their disabled customer to ensure they don’t discriminate against them. Nevertheless the overzealous warden still issued the fine.
The couple were so upset by the incident that they gave the cabbie £20 towards the fine but Mr Shankland is determined to fight it.
Discrimination
He said: “I’ve never been so angry and I could feel my heart pumping with anger.
“In my mind, in my estimation, the warden was discriminating against that disabled person.
“If I hadn’t picked the customer up, I would have been in breach of my licensing badge, then I’d have been discriminating against a wheelchair user. I would have been suspended with no pay.”
Appeal
A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: “The council carries out on-street parking enforcement in order to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and prevent inconsiderate parking.
“In this particular case, if Mr Shankland wishes to challenge the ticket, he can do so through the council’s normal appeals process.
“The council investigates every challenge on its own merits and mitigating circumstances will be taken into account. In instances where the council decides there is no case for a ticket to be cancelled, drivers still have the opportunity to make a further appeal to the independent adjudicator at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.”
We’re sure, under the circumstances, the ticket will be removed on appeal. It does seem a needless waste of everyone’s time and energy though, does it not?