GLENROTHES MSP SECURES PARKING FOR BLUE BADGE HOLDERS IN TOWN CENTRE

Published date : 25 Jan 2021

No tickets for expired Blue Badge holders whilst Fife Council deals with backlog

Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP, Jenny Gilruth, has secured a guarantee from Fife Council and the Kingdom Centre that no one displaying an expired Blue Badge will be issued with a parking ticket during Covid-19.

Fife Council is currently dealing with a backlog of Blue Badge applications as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The backlog of applications was brought to the Glenrothes MSP’s attention by a constituent who was concerned that several of their elderly neighbours were unable to use the disabled spaces without running the risk of being fined £100.

To help mitigate the situation, Fife Council announced that they were allowing badge holders to continue to display expired badges up until 28 February 2021 in Fife Council car parks and on street parking.

However, as the council has no jurisdiction over privately owned car parks, this did not apply to parking within Glenrothes Town Centre.

The MSP has worked with Fife Council and the Kingdom Centre to ensure that no one displaying an expired Blue Badge is issued a ticket in the Kingdom Centre’s car parks.

The MSP made representations on her constituent’s behalf to the Kingdom Centre to ask that they engage with UKPC, who manage their car parks, to ask that penalties for displaying an expired badge be stopped whilst application backlog is dealt with.

In the unlikely event that a holder of an expired Blue Badge should be issued with a parking ticket, Fife Council have advised they should retain their ticket and get in touch with European.Parkingbadges@fife.gov.uk who can then arrange for the ticket to be cancelled.

Commenting after securing UKPC’s commitment, Jenny Gilruth MSP said:

‘‘I am delighted with the Kingdom Centre and UKPC’s commitment not to issue parking tickets to anyone with an expired Blue Badge whilst the Council work through the application backlog.

‘‘It was simply not right that Blue Badge holders were being unjustly fined for an issue outwith their control, so I am happy that this has been resolved.

‘‘I would like to thank David Carson, the Centre Manager at the Kingdom Centre, as well as Ms Anne Cowan, the Lead Consultant for Accessible and Concessionary Travel at Fife Council, for working with me to address this issue. The move gives elderly and disabled people the confidence that they can continue to access free parking when they visit Glenrothes town centre for essential purposes over the coming weeks.”

ENDS

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