Aberdeen City Council has made more than £100,000 from drivers flouting disabled parking rules over the past five years.
More than 3,000 people were landed with penalty notices for misusing both on and off-street disabled parking spaces across the city since 2013, with 767 being issued last year alone.
The number of parking spaces for wheelchair users and people with mobility issues has also gone up, from just 726 five years ago to 20,166 at the end of 2017.
Dame Anne Begg, the former Aberdeen South MP and the first permanent wheelchair user in parliament since 1880, said the figures don’t show the full extent of the problem, due to the council being unable to enforce the law in supermarkets and other private car parks.
She said able-bodied motorists parking in disabled bays are unaware of how “hurtful” their actions are.
Dame Anne, who is also a patron of the disability charity Cornerstone, said: “The council are clearly enforcing the law to a certain extent, but I do get the sense from a lot of disabled people that I speak to that perhaps the council could do a bit more.
“Wheelchair users across the city would say that they routinely find people without blue badges parked in their spaces.
“It’s a very common problem, sadly, and it’s made worse by a number of false blue badges in circulation.
“And of course, there’s the unfortunate situation in supermarkets and private car parks where the council can’t issue a ticket – they are often places where you see the worst abuses of the system.
“This kind of thoughtlessness is horrible. These drivers just don’t realise the effect it has on disabled individuals.
“I think most people who don’t have a need for specialist bays but still park in them don’t appreciate just how hurtful and taking away the availability of these valuable spots can be.”
Councillor Ross Grant, the city council’s transport spokesman, said: “The council will continue to be robust in the enforcement of regulations and the level of fines being issued demonstrates that it is an issue we are actively addressing.
“That does not detract from the disappointment that motorists continue to misuse disabled parking bays and we would appeal to everyone to respect these spaces.”
