The mother of a disabled child is asking residents to be more sensitive after a person put a note on her windscreen accusing her of abusing a blue badge.
Ros Russell parked outside the civic centre in St Albans in a disabled spot as she had her two-year-old daughter Amelia who has Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, which can cause overgrowth.
She said: “I parked up and I’m just assuming that someone just watched me get out the car. Amelia can’t get a wheelchair until she is three, so she looks like a normal child in a pushchair.”
When she returned to her car she found the note which said ‘I have reported your vehicle for abuse of a blue badge’. She was also shocked to find it was written on the back of branded note paper for a charity that helps children with special needs.
Ros, of Park Street, added: “People look at them [badges] as just for the elderly; its makes me livid that I can’t contact that person and tell them what they’ve done. I’m just so angry. They are basically saying that I am using it so I could park in the town. I have to cope with the fact that my daughter can’t walk.”
The nail technician said it was the first time anyone had put a note on her car, but not the first time people had commented on the fact she was using a badge: “I get people off the street coming up to me and saying ‘why are you parking with a blue badge?’. People need to be aware people have blue badges for all sorts of reasons.”
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