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'Needy are missing out'
SEVERELY disabled people face being put off from visiting Eden because of the lack of parking at a wheelchair loan charity, it is claimed.
Shopmobility staff thought the spaces would be for the charity - but highway chiefs say they are for all disabled people.
David Griffin, manager of Shopmobility, said: "Without these allocated bays our job is twice as difficult.
"I don't want to be operating with one hand tied behind my back. We can't provide the service we would like to."
Up to 50 people a day use Shopmobility, which provides motorised scooters and wheelchairs.
Mr Griffin said: "We are still in demand but the people who don't need the bays so much can park in Eden and come down by foot.
"It is the most needy who are not getting the most from the scheme. Some will be deterred and go to another town."
The charity assumed it would have its own spaces at its new Eden base in Desborough Road.
This was the case in Newlands car park, its town centre home for the previous 14 years.
There it was given seven spaces by Wycombe District Council, which owned the car park.
But Buckinghamshire County Council said the new spaces are part of the public highway and open to all disabled people.
Volunteers would leave the centre to help people who could not find a space, Mr Griffin said, though this put a strain on staffing.
Edith Gildersleve, 79, said the new arrangements were a complete shambles'.
Her friend, aged 97, was left alone and frightened as Mrs Gildersleve had to park in Eden and go down to Shopmobility to get a wheelchair.
On their second visit her elderly friend did not want to be left alone.
Mrs Gildersleve, a disabled badge holder, said: "I walked her slowly down to the shop. We had to keep stopping every few steps for her to get her breath.
"It took 15 minutes by which time she was exhausted."
Mrs Gildersleve - who was also furious that she had to pay at Eden - said: "For the last two weeks she has become a nervous wreck, all due to the new car park."
There are about 16,000 blue badge holders in Buckinghamshire.
Alison Lewis, spokesman for the disabled campaign group Wycombe Area Access For All, called the arrangements unacceptable'.
She said: "It is shutting out a whole section of our community. Some people just will not go."
People with conditions such as ME would be particularly hard hit, she said.
But the spaces were on the public highway said Anne-Marie Goodbody, the parking services manager for Buckinghamshire County Council.
She said: "We are looking at resolving the status of the bays and how we can allow Shopmobility to provide their service."
Daniel Tomkinson, Eden Centre director, said he was trying to resolve the issues surrounding the disabled parking on Desborough Road'.
He said: "As always, we continue to try and ensure that the facilities in and around Eden are as accessible as possible for all."
11:24am Friday 28th March 2008
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