FEATURE MAKING PARKING ACCESSIBLE
How much
MAKING PARKING EQUIPMENT EASY TO USE SHOULD BE HIGH ON THE AGENDA FOR EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS FOLLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF THE EQUALITY ACT 2010. JOHN OSBORNE CONSIDERS THE SCALE OF THE TASK FACING THE PARKING INDUSTRY AND ALSO RELATES HOW A COUNCIL AND A MAJOR CAMPAIGN GROUP ALMOST CAME TO LEGAL BLOWS
B
eing a disabled driver is enough of a burden, so discovering that whether you qualify for a Blue Badge depends on how your local council interprets the rules just makes life harder. Parking News
covers this subject regularly but the difficult issue of payment by disabled motorists just will not go away. Arguably, more could be done to make it easier for disabled people to pay for their parking and to make the experience generally less stressful. At the heart of the issue is whether equipment
that has been designed for people without disabilities needs modification, so that less able drivers can use the machines. Nigel Dotchin, head of equalities policy at the Department for Transport (DfT) explained: ‘Te Equality Act, which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act, includes the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people but there are no specific references to equipment such as for parking.’ An obvious area for adjustment is the height of
ticket machines in relation to wheelchair users. But, as Mr Dotchin pointed out: ‘What is suitable for wheelchair users may not be suitable for other disabled people, or even non-disabled people.’ Te sticking point is the word ‘reasonable’. It is used because policy-makers do not want to write
36 OCTOBER 2011
NO ACCOUNT WAS TAKEN OF THE FACT THAT IT TAKES DISABLED PEOPLE LONGER TO PARK AND SHOP
adjustment is reasonable?
Informing the debate… Helen Dolphin of DMUK
prescriptive laws, which state, for example, that the payment controls on a machine must be a specific number of centimetres above the ground; that approach would probably be unworkable. Also, legislators are keen to produce laws that enable manufacturers to use their expertise to make equipment that uses innovation to comply with the legislation.
One size doesn’t fit all To make matters more complicated, there is the issue of how much equipment provided for public use should be customised to meet the needs of specific customers. Equipment manufacturers are able to provide machines at an acceptable price largely because they can mass-produce.
www.britishparking.co.uk
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