£60 is the Asda price for using restricted parking bays

15/01/2008

A major supermarket is to fine drivers £60 at its stores in Scotland if they wrongly park in a space reserved for parents with young children or disabled people.

Asda is to use private firm Town and City Parking, licensed by the DVLA to issue civil penalties, to enforce the fines which are due to be introduced at the end of March.

The company will be entitled to chase up non-payment of the fines through the courts.
The scheme comes after an Asda trial in the north-west of England saw the number of available parking spots in the disabled and parent section rise by up to 60%.

The fines follow a number of attempts by the company to halt unauthorised parking. These included loudspeaker messages for drivers as they arrived in the restricted spaces and leaflet campaigns.
Money generated through the fair parking scheme will be donated to the Motability disabled travel project and the Tommy's baby charity.

Paul Hedley, customer service manager, said signs would alert drivers to the potential fines. 'At Asda we have decided to take a stand to keep specialised parking spaces available to those customers that need them.

'Most customers using these bays without good reason don't realise their actions impact on people that rely on them to do their weekly shop.'
Priority parking spaces are reserved for disabled customers with a blue badge in their cars and for parents with a child under 12.
An Asda poll found four out of five of its customers thought the parking fines should be extended nationally.

Faye Gatenby, Capability Scotland’s Campaigns, Parliamentary and Policy Manager said: “This is great news for disabled people who often have to rely on their cars to get around due to inaccessible public transport.  Accessible parking bays are there to ensure that all customers have equal access to a service.  It can be very frustrating for disabled people when they are unable to park because these spaces are being used inappropriately. 

“Asda should be commended for responding to the needs of its disabled customers and it may well find that business booms as a more disabled people and their families and friends choose to shop at its stores on a regular basis.”

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