Brighton: Calls for council to remove fence for disabled parking bay

Georgie Allen took a tumble when she was walking over the grass with husband John on the way to their car, outside their Woodingdean home. 

Mr Allen said his 68-year-old wife tripped over a hole where wooden posts used to be on the patch of grass in Bexhill Road, and he blames the council.

The hole Georgie tripped on (Image: John Allen)

Brighton and Hove City Council then installed a new fence but Mr Allen is angry with that decision, saying it blocks access to his favourite parking spot, across the grass from his home.

Amid the row over the fence the 70-year-old applied for a disabled parking space, due to his double knee replacement and severe asthma - which he takes six different medications per day for.

The council has offered him a blue badge space around 50 metres uphill from his front door,  but he wants a gap put in the fence to use his favourite spot, the shortest distance from his front door.

The section of fence John wants removed (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

John said the uphill walk to and from his car "kills" him and takes him over an hour and a half to recover from.

Instead he has urged the council to make a gap in the two-and-a-half-foot high fence and install his disabled bay in the middle of the row of parking spaces, so he can continue to walk over the grass to his car.

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He said: "We've been walking across the green to our car since we moved in over 30 years ago.

"So to be told we've got to walk up to the top and across on the path doesn't make sense. For me, the shortest path is straight across the grass."

She had cuts on her arms and legs, and her right knee was swollen (Image: John Allen)

The Argus understands that the fence, which runs parallel to Bexhill Road, was installed as a result of the incident.

"I even offered to sign a disclaimer saying that if we fell over on the grass again the council wouldn't be responsible, so long as they let us have the bay where we want it," Mr Allen said.

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The pair continue to clamber over the fence to walk across the grass despite this.

Mr Allen remains unhappy with the fence being there and points out that very similar greens further down the road do not have them in place.

He added: "If we've been shopping, my wife gets out of the car and climbs over the fence, and then I pass the shopping over it to her.

"If the council puts the bay where they said they would then they would effectively be losing a space as I would not use it."

The pavement also has weeds growing out of it (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

The chairman of Brighton and Hove City Council's transport and sustainability committee, Councillor Trevor Muten, said: "We have suspended installing the new disabled bay for Mr Allen while further discussions take place.

“We are basically happy to place the new disabled parking bay wherever is most convenient for him.

“However, for safety reasons we cannot remove or make a gap in the fence as Mr Allen has requested."