Kerri-Anne Kennerley slapped with parking fine while helping her disabled husband
Since her husband's horrific accident in March 2016 which left him a quadriplegic, Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s life has been upended as she takes on the role of caring for John.
With the help of her stepson Simon, who has also moved in to their Woollahra home in Sydney to care for his father, as well as the installation of a lift in the house, the TV personality has managed to keep a semblance of normalcy to their home life.
It’s why it was a slap in the face when the Kennerleys were issued a $184 fine after Kerri-Anne momentarily left her 4WD in the driveway of their garage.
She had gone inside to get John in his motorised wheelchair before starting the difficult process of shifting him into the car.
As the laneway is near Woollahra Public School and is classified a school zone on weekday mornings, parking inspectors immediately slapped the Kennerleys with a fine.
Speaking to Private Sydney, the Logie Winner blamed "stupid bureaucracy" for the parking ticket.
"It was 8.50am. I parked the car and went in to get John. Simon is the one who really puts him in the car, at 88 kilograms and being over six foot, it's a bit too much for me to do alone.
"It is not easy. John cannot bend his neck, so we have to position his torso and bum into the seat, then pick up his legs and make sure he is inside the vehicle securely without hurting him.
"We have got it down to under 10 minutes, but the car and the wheelchair have to be on the same level, not on a footpath, that's why I moved the car because the garage isn't big enough to fit the chair in too."
She continued: "We have a mobility pass on the windscreen. I pointed that out to the parking inspector, and that we were actually parked across our own driveway and not interfering with the flow of traffic in anyway, but they wouldn't have a bar of it. They still pinged us. I was furious, it really is stupid bureaucracy without consideration of the circumstances."
Kerri-Anne wrote to the Roads and Traffic Authority to plead her case but despite her husband's condition, the case was rejected on the grounds that "lenience is inappropriate."
"So what is the alternative?" Kerri-Anne asked.
"Do I now have to make John drive his wheelchair down Wellington and Ocean streets, two very busy roads, hold up all that traffic so I can get him to find a park outside where I can get him into the car?
"It really is quite ridiculous, we were trying to get to a doctor's appointment."