Posted on 06/25/2006 8:49:34 AM PDT by LibWhacker
A council has apologised to a woman who was fined £60 after workmen painted a disabled bay around her car.
When Shirley Hatcher, 67, parked her car in North Road, Southampton, Hampshire, there were no parking restrictions in place.
Mrs Hatcher, of Priory Road, said: "I had just gone to the hairdressers and when I returned there was this disabled bay and the £60 fine."
A spokeswoman for Southampton City Council has apologised for the error.
Mrs Hatcher said: "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it.
"My car was covered in polka dots from the paint they had used.
"I was fuming, absolutely fuming, all I could think was what sort of idiot did this.
"I saw the funny side of it the next day - you couldn't make it up."
A spokeswoman for Southampton City Council said the authority would cover the costs of repairs to her car.
She added: "Occasionally things go wrong no matter how hard we try to get things right.
"We were in error, as was our painting contractor, and we're very sorry.
"We are doing everything we can to put it right, and to examine our processes to prevent anything like this happening again."
Sounds like the work of Hazzard county's finest.
Try doing away with the nanny state. It might help.
Thats funny right there, I dont care who you are.
I can't imagine anyone being dumb enough to paint a handicapped zone while a car was parked in it. It just staggers the imagination!
An error? :^)
Good thing it wasn't a paving crew.
Well, what do you expect from the same people who gave us 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe?
Speak English, for crying out loud.
Gubbmint at its finest.
This is clearly a case where nobody on the painting crew was thinking at all.
One shudders to think what would've happened if these people had been instructed to park a car in that spot. You think they would've tried to test the limitation on the number of vehicles that can occupy the same parking stall at the same time?
A few years ago, iirc, tow trucks in nyc towed and ticketed a bunch of cars and then painted the curb red... or something like that... anyone remember?
Yeah, That'd be a horse of a different colour.
This reminds me of Henny Youngman who said he finally found a way around San Francisco's extreme shortage of parking places. He went out and bought a parked car.
Who cares? Why do we get stupid British stories on here anyway? Don't they have their own internet sites?
I'm disabled, but I don't always use handicap parking. I have one of those window tags. I only use handicapped parking when I'm having difficulty. Otherwise, I use as close a spot as I can find.
However, I'm 'death' on anyone who is parked illegally or can't show proof of handicap. IOW, don't do it around me!
One day, a commissioner of highways noticed that Lopez was working by himself. He would dig a line of holes, then return and fill them in. Upon questioning, Lopez responded thusly, "Well, Carter he sick and stay home today, so I decide to come in and work, for paycheck."
Here, it seems the ne'er do wells have found a way around it. I see plenty of folks with "handicapped" placards who obviously have no infirmities, just a crooked doctor who will write the prescription or whatever is necessary. It's sickening.
Trouble was, we had a dumpster there (on wheels). Being too lazy to give notice or move the dumpster, they paved around it leaving the dumpster sitting in a 2" deep pit that made it almost impossible to move when filled and causing water to stand next to the building.
Government is another name for genius at work.
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