Special parking permits being abused

The standards by which people receive impaired permits as a result of their medical condition allowing them to park without paying may need to be reviewed.

The original idea of granting special privileges to classified persons was that they had difficulty in alighting or entering their vehicles.

This is far from the case in many instances, where people displaying permits have no obvious difficulty or impairment, either driving their vehicle or alighting from it.

Vehicles with special permits also seem to be able to park anywhere without any time restrictions, despite specially assigned zones for the purpose. Cork City’s manager has expressed concern and believes that serious abuse is now taking place.

The South Mall in Cork city is remarkable, where very high numbers of permits are now openly visible, and nearly every second vehicle has an impairment permit.

Maurice Fitzgerald

Shanbally

Co Cork