Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver given parking ticket while using ramp to collect disabled woman outside Bridgewater Hall

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... n-17810876

As Darren Redshaw was helping her the lady into his cab, a traffic warden appeared

A taxi driver was given a parking fine while he was using a ramp to assist a disabled woman into his cab.

Darren Redshaw, a Salford-based Hackney cab driver, was picking up two elderly women from outside the Bridgewater Hall on Sunday.

The women, who both have mobility problems, were attending the Big Band Broadway show at the concert hall alongside two carers from their nursing home.

One woman required a wheelchair, while the other struggled to walk unaided.

Darren was booked to pick the group at 5pm and pulled into a lay-by on Lower Mosley Street outside the venue a few minutes before the show was due to end.

He got out of the cab to pull out a ramp onto the kerb and assisted the woman in the wheelchair into the vehicle.

But as Darren was helping her he said a traffic warden appeared at the window.

The traffic warden reportedly told him he was not allowed to stop there and slapped a parking fine on his windscreen.


Image: Darren Redshaw/Manchester Evening News

Darren, 55, is now planning to appeal the parking fine.

He told the M.E.N: "I went to a nursing home in Walkden and took one lady in a wheelchair, another lady who couldn't walk, and two carers.

"I dropped them off at the Bridgewater Hall at 3pm and came to collect them just before the show finished at 5pm.

"We have to go kerb side to pull a ramp out onto the pavement. I came up and took the wheelchair lady into the taxi.

"There is a lay-by right outside the front door where coaches pull into. I pulled the ramp out, I stood at the door.

"A warden was at the window shouting at me. The traffic warden said 'You can't stop here'.

"I said 'What do you mean? I have been doing this for 25 years, I am just picking up I am not parking'.

"He got his computer out and put a ticket on my windscreen. I didn't want to argue with him."

Darren added: "The woman in the wheelchair was upset.

"I have never had anything like this happen in my life."

"I was not stopping I was just loading. The lady in the wheelchair is 70 plus, the other lady is 60 plus. The two carers were in their 50s too."

A spokesman for Manchester City Council said: "An appeals process is in place for anybody who feels that they have been given a parking ticket in error and we encourage people to use this, so that we can formally review the circumstances in which it was issued."

According to the Bridgewater Hall website the lay-by is a designated wheelchair drop-off point, but drivers are not allowed to park there even if they hold a blue badge.

A statement on the information section of the website said: "A wheelchair drop-off point is located on Lower Mosley Street outside the Hall. We must stress, however, that this is not a parking space, even for blue badge holders."

It would help if a few details were available of the markings/traffic orders for the area but it sounds to me as if the traffic warden was being a bit over zealous

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This is the Google StreetView of area, but you need to spin round a bit and move up the road to see outside the hall:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/uv?hl=en& ... F3oECA0QCw

(Sometimes these things show precisely the view you want via the link, sometimes they don't, and I've never quite worked out why.)

Anyway, there's a big layby, most of which is a bus bay. The rest is double-yellowed, and there seem to be loading/unloading marks, but it's not entirely clear if they apply to the whole double-yellowed area. The various markings are all a bit faded, but not particularly bad for this sort of thing.

No sign of any obvious plates detailing the restrictions, though.

But seems to be some kind of graduation ceremony on when the StreetView was taken, so there's several HCs on the double yellows, and a BMW convertible and a council cleansing truck in the bus bay itself, although they're not unattended.

Anyway, does look like the warden overzealous, assuming of course that the full scenario is being described in the article, which isn't always the case.

A bit more about this in the Sun - seems the warden has a bit of a reputation with the drivers


https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11054217/ ... led-women/


Image: The Sun

As he unloaded the wheelchair ramp, a "sour-faced warden" approached and wasted no time in issuing him the £50 ticket despite the obvious circumstances.

Darren, 55, told the Sun Online: “I was pushing the wheelchair in and he plonked the parking ticket on my windscreen.

"I honestly thought he was joking at first until I saw his face.

“I asked him what he was doing, for him to snarl at me and say 'I don’t care who’s getting in, wheelchair access isn’t allowed here'.

“He had no compassion. I’ve been doing this job for 25 years and have never known anything like it.

“I didn’t want to argue with him because the ladies had started getting upset, so I took his photograph and got everybody in.”

The warden then allegedly approached another driver collecting seven wheelchair users behind Darren and shockingly issued him a fine too.

A post on the incident has been shared thousands of times online with many others citing similar experiences with the same jobsworth warden.

Bridgewater Hall is a notoriously difficult pick-up location in the city, especially for disabled visitors as there are only a limited number of designated bays in the surrounding area.

Darren added: “I could understand if I was causing an obstruction or it was a busy Friday night but it was a quiet Sunday afternoon.

"Passers-by were calling him a disgrace.

“He was a menace. He looked like the bloody devil.”

The unnamed traffic warden is believed to be well known among cab drivers in the city centre for his hostile attitude and ruthless approach to reach his ticket quota.

The ramp for Darren’s vehicle requires a raised pavement to prop it on, for a smooth transition into the vehicle.

A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “An appeals process is in place for anybody who feels that they have been given a parking ticket in error and we encourage people to use this, so that we can formally review the circumstances in which it was issued.

“We have not received any complaints about this alleged incident.

“We do urge anybody who has concerns about the conduct of the officer who is working on our behalf to report them to us, so that we can investigate.”

Outraged Darren added: “I am going to appeal the ticket. I’m not making millions, I was just doing my job and trying to help the ladies have a nice day out.

“It put a huge dampener on the day for them.”


Image: Olivia Burke/The Sun