Parking plea to blue badge cars

Drivers with disabled badges in Derby are being asked to use their privileges responsibly in the run up to Christmas. Traffic wardens said blue badge holders had been parking - legally - on double yellow lines around the new Westfield shopping centre.

But so many vehicles have been left on roads in the area that some routes have become difficult to use, especially for public buses. Now drivers are being asked to think of other road users before parking.

Malcolm Comley, a parking supervisor at the city council, said: "What people are tending to do is literally park all over the place. They have got the blue badges, they find a little spot and they chuck the car in there. But it is also a busy bus area and the buses on many occasions have contacted us to say that disabled people have parked in such a way as to cause obstructions."

The Westfield centre, which opened in October, has just raised charges for parking for more than an hour.

Comment from Mr Ponton from Corby

"In the Blue Badge rules, which every recipient gets along with their badge, it states that one thing you cannot do is cause an obstruction or you are breaking the law. The City Council in this instance would have been well within their rights to ticket those cars causing an obstruction."