"Jobsworth" is alive and well in Frome!

Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 18th Jul 2008

What on earth is going on with disabled parking in Frome? That parents should be refused access to disabled parking spaces when picking up their children from school simply beggars belief. I'm not surprised there was a demonstration on Friday to protest.

I have written before about people abusing the blue badge system, and I'm all for tightening up on those who are trying to cheat the system. But having talked to a parent affected this week, it is clear that all he is doing is using his car, which has an entirely proper registered disabled badge, to pick up a child with a physical disability from school. It's OK when he arrives in the morning, because the child is in the car. But at collection time, he is told he can't do that, because at the moment he parks the child is not in the car.

Surely someone at the District Council has the nous and the compassion to realise that this is wrong? Surely someone is trying to apply the rules to make it easier for people who have mobility problems, not more difficult?

Mr Triggs, the headteacher at St Louis' school, has got it right when he says common sense should prevail. Common sense seems in short supply at the moment.