A PENSIONER whose hands are crippled with arthritis has accused the organisers of Warrington's ground-breaking Shopmobility scheme of making life difficult for its members by changing the rules at a town centre car park.

Nora Lingley of Great Sankey said that she was shocked to find after a five week absence that Shopmobility members parking on the Legh Street multi storey now had to fill in their name and address on the back of their ticket in order to qualify for free parking, when in the past all they had to do was get their ticket stamped.

"Now it seems pensioners have to fill in their name, address and orange badge number on the reverse of their parking ticket," said Mrs Lingley. "As the average age of members is 75 to 80, most find it hard to write with arthritic fingers."

She herself had to dictate a letter to the Warrington GUARDIAN because she finds it hard to hold a pen.

Shopmobility Co-ordinator Geoff Berry said that the situation was currently under review, as there had been some doubt as to whether the decision to implement the ticket stamping scheme had been agreed by the council.

"Although all disabled drivers can park free of charge, we implemented the ticket stamping only for our Shopmobility members," he said.

"But when the car park manager looked into it, he became unsure whether we had actually been allowed to do it. Anything given away free which is connected to the borough council has to be agreed by councillors.

"We haven't exactly taken anything away from the drivers as they are still able to park for free. But we have to wait for a decision from the council as to whether we can revert back to the old system."

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