Disabled woman slapped with £1,000 fines for parking in disabled spot outside her flat

A disabled woman has been slapped with £1,000 in fines for using a disabled-parking space reserved for visitors outside her flat in Cardiff Bay, Wales.

Cerys Gemma, who uses a wheelchair, said that she was forced to use the parking space as an alternative since the parking space allotted to her is inaccessible. It has a pillar on one side and another car parking space close on the other, which makes it difficult for her to park her car there.

The 34-year-old has been wheelchair-bound since she was 17. She had sustained spinal injuries in a car accident which led to her being confined to a wheelchair. Gemma was dragged to court by New Generation Parking Management, the firm that manages parking bays at Prospect Place in Cardiff Bay.

"We want to make clear, if we allow one resident to utilise a disabled visitor space as their own, we would need to allow all requests from residents which we have received over the years," New Generation told BBC.

"We cannot make changes to these rules unless agreed by the board of directors; therefore, in light of the continued distress that this is causing Ms. Gemma, we will take steps to ensure this is discussed at the next board meeting," they added.

Gemma has been slapped with multiple fines for using the visitors' space. And a county court has asked her to pay the fines.

She said: "It is hard enough anyway, and I try and be as graceful and patient with people who don't have accessible buildings. I understand that it's hard, but I'm not being pushed out of my home because of a parking space when they've got eight accessible bays."

"Literally every day when I come down to me car I think 'here we go, is there going to be another ticket?', and it's awful."

According to disability rights lawyer Chris Fry, the firm is obligated to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act. He added that a breach of the fact could force it to pay compensation for "impact of the injury to feelings that the tenant has faced.