A wheelchair-bound grandmother has slammed the ‘cheek’ of builders for parking in the only free disabled bay and refusing to move for her during a hospital visit.
Will Watts had taken his wife Alisa Neale, 50, for a heart monitor appointment at Colchester General Hospital last week when the couple found all the disabled bays taken.
They then spotted that builders had parked in one of the bays, and claim the workmen said they ‘didn’t care’ when they explained Ms Neale needed the space to she could use her electric wheelchair.
The couple then realised the builders were there to remove the bays entirely, but the hospital had failed to cover up the disabled parking signs, adding to the confusion.
The couple photographed the van using the parking bay which had been suspended
Alisa Neale and Will Watts complained that construction workers at a hospital blocked a disabled parking bay without alerting users causing the couple distress
Ms Neale was left in agony as the couple were forced to park their car farther up the road in a chevroned area and use her mobility scooter to get to the hospital.
She and her husband now claim the hospital has reduced the number of accessible parking bays to just four meaning Ms Neale may find difficulty in parking in future.
Colchester General Hospital apologised that the bays were not appropriately marked as being no longer in use.
However the couple claimed that the other disabled bays were in use at the time of their visit by other hospital visitors and they only needed it for 20 minutes for the heart test.
Ms Neale, 50, said: ‘The builders weren’t very friendly at all. It’s disheartening. When you’re disabled, you don’t like having to ask for extra help.
‘They obviously knew that I need that extra space, but they didn’t care.
‘In the end, Will had to park on the yellow lines and I had to get into my mobility scooter on the road.
Ms Neale uses a mobility scooter as a result of the medical condition she suffers
‘They weren’t bothered at all. They could have been talking to anyone. They showed no empathy.
‘Will said we’d only be 20 minutes but they just said they were doing their jobs. I was really upset. I don’t want to be asking for help.
‘The further away from the entrance I am, the more pain it causes. I just wanted to nip into the hospital, get the appointment done then get back in bed.
‘It increased my stress levels. Everybody goes to hospital because they are ill or visiting someone. No one goes to have fun.
‘So why wouldn’t they move their van for 20 minutes? They couldn’t give a monkey’s.
‘Or why couldn’t the hospital have put temporary barriers on normal parking up to make up for the loss of disabled bays?’
Ms Neale suffers from multiple health conditions meaning she requires a heart monitor while she also has Centralised Sensitivity Syndrome (CSS), which leaves her in a lot of pain.
Mr Watts, 51, said: ‘It was all a lot more stressful than it should have been.
‘We’ve been coming here for two or three years for Alisa’s heart monitor and are usually in and out within half an hour.
‘We needed the disabled bay to help get out her wheelchair and access the entrance easily.
‘Alisa has a lot of health issues that cause problems with her spine and nervous system.
The couple, pictured, were at Colechester Hospital to attend an appointment for Ms Neale
‘She has Centralised Sensitivity Syndrome (CSS) which means her body is in a constant state of high alert. Obviously if your body is in a constant state of high alert and interprets every slight impact as pain, it’s become so sensitive to everything.
‘Her electric wheelchair is an old one and has no suspension so it’s not possible to go up and down kerbs or over bumps without causing her pain.
‘Finding somewhere to park with accessibility is extremely difficult. 85% of the time we park on yellow lines and it’s obviously better to have disabled bays.
‘We just wanted to get parked without the added stress of trying to find a space.’
Mr Watts claims the area was not cordoned off and there was nothing to indicate the bays were not in use.
After the builders refused to move, he was obliged to park on yellow lines in order to help Ms Neale exit the car and use her wheelchair safely.
Mr Watts, from Essex, said: ‘There are now only four disabled bays by the main entrance for a major hospital in the area.
‘The builders explained that they were in the process of removing the bays, but they hadn’t cordoned them off or put any signage up about where other parking was available.
The couple, pictured, criticised the company who had used the disabled parking spot
‘There was nothing to indicate those bays were not in use.
‘It was just one of those miscommunications where someone had a job to do but we still had nowhere to park near the entrance.
‘I know from conversations I’ve had within the hospital that Colchester Hospital can’t improve the parking by putting in a multi-storey car park because of restrictions on planning by the council. Yet there’s thousands of houses going up around Colchester at the moment.
‘They did create 18 more spaces but they have also been removed now and are for ambulance access only.
‘Security have said the bays should have been cordoned off but we still couldn’t park anywhere else and that’s the issue.
‘At the end of the road, there’s a chevroned-off area and we ended up having to just park there. We put up the disabled badge and a note.
‘The people who run the department Alisa visits should run the whole hospital in my opinion. We’re usually in and out within half an hour.’
Raising awareness of the issue on social media, Alisa said she was aware issues like this may not seem a crime to some people but they are to disabled people, while also slamming their ‘cheek’ at refusing to move.
A spokesperson from Colchester General Hospital said: ‘Colchester General Hospital has a total of 91 visitor disabled parking spaces. If these are all occupied, Blue Badge holders can park free of charge in any other space.
‘We are currently improving our Emergency Department (A&E), using £1m of funding from the Department of Health allocated to ease pressure on emergency departments.
‘Last Monday (25th Sept) a contractor took over three disabled parking bays to ensure no car could park there during the next phase of work and while heavy plant was delivered.
‘While the disabled spaces were taken out of commission and reprovided elsewhere, the contractor forgot to cover up the disabled parking symbols which may have led to a misunderstanding about inappropriate parking.
‘However, as soon as this was drawn to our attention, the signs were turned round and barriers were placed in front of the redundant bays.
‘We fully accept that we should have used appropriate signage from the beginning and apologise for this and also for any confusion caused to members of the public.’
The building company said: ‘We have nothing further to add to the statement made by Colchester General Hospital other than adding our apologies for any misunderstanding caused to any members of the public whilst our initial site set-up works were taking place for the improvement works at the Hospital.’