A MAGUIRESBRIDGE motorist has complained to the Herald about the manner in which a car bearing a ‘Blue Badge’ – indicating its driver was disabled and had certain parking rights – was parked at the junction of the Irvinestown Road and the new hospital, creating access problems for others.

The man said he personally witnessed the scene on Monday of last week, 18th April.

The Department For Regional Development (DRD) told the Herald this week that badge holders are specifically banned from parking at hospital or fire station entrances.

The complainant, who asked not to be named, said the driver had given the impression that the blue badge was issued ‘so a car can just be abandoned anywhere’.

“He/she gave no consideration to other road users, nor did they care about emergency vehicles wanting to access the main entrance or transport for the disabled or elderly.

A spokesman for DRD, stressed that the blue badge ‘is not a licence to park anywhere’.

Indeed, she listed 20 restrictions where badge holders must not park, including within 15 metres of a junction.

And, she warned: “If a badge holder parks where it would cause an obstruction or danger to other road users, the vehicle could be removed by the police, and the badge holder prosecuted and the badge withdrawn.

A blue badge cannot be used where a ban on ‘loading’ or ‘unloading’ is in force, where there are double white lines in the centre of a road, at a bus stop, in a bus lane or fire lane, in a mandatory cycle lane, on any clearway, on pedestrian crossings, and on zig-zag markings before and after crossings.

There is a ban on blue badge users  parking in places reserved for specific users, in a resident’s parking bay, or where temporary restrictions on parking are in force along a length of road, and on school ‘keep clear’ markings.

Badge holders must not park where it would cause an obstruction or danger to others, such as at school entrances, bus stops, on a bend, near the brow of a hill or hump bridge; where it would make it difficult for others to see clearly, where it would make the road narrow, where it would hold up traffic, where emergency vehicles stop or go in and out, for example, at hospital entrances or fire station entrances, where the kerb has been lowered or the road raised to form a pedestrian crossing point, and on a pavement unless signs permit it