A DISABLED Runcorn man is seeing red over town centre parking restrictions which he says are making the orange badge scheme worthless.

Keith Watson, 63, has had an orange badge - for disabled drivers - for 10 years.

But rigorous enforcement of double-parking makes it hard to get to his doctors, he says.

"They're making the orange badge obsolete," complained the Castlefields man.

He says a lack of parking facilities on Runcorn High Street makes it difficult to see his doctor at St Paul's Health Centre.

This is because he must double-park every visit and risk a ticket.

"There's a car park but it's too far for me to walk. I can only go about 30 yards before I get distressed.

"There's no leeway for us. I can understand it causes an obstruction but when you are disabled and can't walk that far, what are you supposed to do?"

Keith asked a traffic warden about the tickets, and was told that the police didn't want any cars parked on the street.

"I'd love to be able-bodied and walk, but why are they getting at us after all these years?"

A police spokesman said an orange badge allowed three hours worth of parking, provided there was no obstruction being caused: "That is the main road through Runcorn and it's causing problems to other road users.

"Our main concern is the obstruction and safety aspect."

He advised orange-badge holders visiting the Health centre to use the car park around the back.

A spokesperson for Halton Council expressed surprise at complaints, saying four disabled parking bays had been built at St Paul's car park recently

He said: "The council is acutely aware of the need to provide convenient parking for people with disabilities, which is why we placed these bays next to the path leading to the health centre.

"Any decision to remove double yellow lines from the road would be made in conjunction with the police."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.