Disabled driver told car is too big for space

A FURIOUS disabled driver has been hit with a �35 fine because his specially-adapted car was too big for the parking space he left it in.

Blue badge holder Stuart Ludar-Smith had left his Volvo X370 estate car in a disabled parking space at Trinity Place car park in Huntingdon town centre for three hours on Friday morning while he volunteered on reception at disability charity Papworth Trust, which has an office in the Saxongate Centre.

When he returned at noon he discovered he had been fined �35 for not parking his car within the white lines. Mr Ludar-Smith, 45, who lives in Sawtry, has appealed against the fine, pointing out his specially-adapted car is too large for the space.

He said: “My car is two feet longer than the space. My tyres may have been on the white line, but I could not have gone back any further because there was a huge van behind me.

“Even if the appeal is successful, it does not matter, because I should never have had to appeal in the first place. I want to protect other people, more than myself.”

Mr Ludar-Smith, who suffers with a condition that affects the nerves in his legs and has limited mobility, has 14 days to pay the �35 fine or it will up to �50.

A spokesman for Huntingdonshire District Council, which is in charge of parking enforcement, said: “It is difficult to comment on specific cases, but if a resident feels they have an issue with a ticket, they should contact us.

“We have never come across a case, where a driver has had trouble fitting into a parking space before.”