Senior driver slammed for parking in disabled spot: “I’m not the a**hole here”
A senior man has been shamed by an angry bystander for parking in a disabled park space outside a Coles supermarket in Sydney’s northwest.
A man took to Facebook to share photos from Coles at Epping on Sunday of a Ford Falcon with a a senior Australian man in the driver’s seat parked in the bay allegedly without a permit.
The man claims he confronted the older man, who claimed he was 74, about where he was parked.
The senior man replied to say he was waiting to pick up his wife from church.
The disgruntled bystander advised him the disabled spot was not for older drivers but said there are seniors spots soon to come for the shopping centre.
The senior man asked the other man if he would like to see his seniors’ card or his driver’s licence.
“OK, I’ll move you are extremely rude,” he said.
“No, I’m not the a**hole here,” the disgruntled man responded.
“How dare you use such language,” the old man replied.
On Facebook, people called the elderly man “ignorant”.
People took to the Facebook comments to label to 74-year-old “ignorant”
“Ignoramuses think because they are 'old' that disabled parks are for them,” one woman wrote.
“No that is seniors parks - there is a difference. Many older people I have been finding think they are entitled to use these spots illegally.”
Others labelled him entitled but some had sympathy for him.
“While I don't agree with someone parking in these spots without a permit, maybe his wife can't walk far,” one woman wrote.
Another man wrote other people should show more compassion for the older man.
“I pray you never get old and someday need a permit. Not all disabilities can be seen by the eye,” he wrote.
National Seniors Australia chief advocate Ian Henschke told Yahoo News Australia people with disabilities are the only ones who should be allowed to use disabled parking spaces.
“There is room for retailers to create more spaces for seniors and people with mobility issues such as those who use walkers,” Mr Henschke said.
“There are pram spots – maybe we should consider doing the same thing with older Australians who have walkers.
“That would go some way to solving the problem and we should encourage the elderly to go out more and engage with society.”
However, he added he didn’t “want to see disabled people lose their spaces”.
In NSW, parking in a disabled bay without the correct permit can attract one demerit point and a $572 fine.
Medically recognised disabilities include blindness, paraplegia, cerebral palsy and motor neurone disease.