It wasn’t quite handbags at dawn but it was enough to prompt one Armagh I reader to reach out to us. He wished to highlight the plight of the blue badge holder (like himself) in Armagh. We could probably replace Armagh for Portadown, Lurgan, Newry… anywhere really!
The Spires Retail Park on the Moy Road drew the ire of this one particular reader; the car park at Home Bargains – off Railway Street – gets a dishonourable mention too but it’s not isolated to these locations at all.
An altercation outside Lidl erupted over the misuse of a disabled bay. The reader was verbally abused just because he had the temerity to raise the issue with one particular driver – one of three in the four bays not displaying a blue badge.
“It’s 24/7 in Armagh and particularly bad at the weekend. My mobility isn’t the greatest but when I saw a pensioner, clinging to an oxygen bottle, parked opposite Lidl it really p****ed me off. For me, parking in disabled bays when you’re not disabled is just plain laziness. The woman in question, who verbally abused me, when I asked her where her badge was gave me the bird and said ‘here it is’. What do you say to that?”
Sadly, this was one of the frequent occasions disabled bays are abused by those fortunate enough to me more than able.
This particular reader wanted the issue highlighted and has asked for people to be more considerate in future.
