A disabled woman says her husband will remove a homemade parking bay after the couple were fined by Nottingham City Council.
Blue badge holder Elaine Bacon, 55, was given the £75 penalty after her husband Daniel painted a white disabled space and lettering outside their house in Forest Fields, Nottingham.
Mrs Bacon suffers from back problems and says she has been left crying in pain after being forced to “crawl” more than 50 yards down Laurie Avenue on her own as she is often unable to park outside her home.
She said: “I had to crawl back to the door and crawl in, by the time I got back here I was just crying with pain it was just unbelievably painful.
“That’s what made us paint it, my husband went crackers when he saw the state I was in.
“What is the point in having a car for a disability if I can’t park outside my own house?”
But Mrs Bacon’s husband Daniel, 44, a self-employed road surfacer, says he will now remove the homemade parking bay after getting the fine from a Nottingham City Council community protection officer last Wednesday.
Nottingham City Council said it is planning to remove the markings itself using a highways team to burn off the paint.
The council confirmed the fine was issued for making “unauthorised marks on the highway”, and Mrs Bacon says they will not appeal against the decision.
An accident in hospital in 2008 ended with Mrs Bacon sustaining spinal nerve damage, meaning she is unable to work.
Mrs Bacon, who has lived at the property for 34 years, added: “I was driven to this stage, I had put a sign in the window that is clear to see asking people nicely because I had got fed up.
“I can’t walk that far, I can only walk about 20 yards without being in pain so I end up using a wheelchair just to get back, I have to have access to my house.”
I wish they had to walk in my shoes for 24 hours
And Mrs Bacon has said she has now been a victim of cyber abuse from online trolls since her story appeared online.
She said: “People have been awful, they don’t know the circumstances, one man said I should be out painting railings as community service.
“All I wanted to do was park outside my own house because I’m in pain, I wish they had to walk in my shoes for 24 hours.”
A spokesman for Nottingham City Council said: “The owner of this vehicle holds a valid blue badge allowing them access to official disabled bays across the city. However, they have attempted to reserve themselves a space outside their home on Laurie Avenue by placing unauthorised markings on the road, resulting in a £75 fine.
“Only the highway authority is allowed to carry out such road markings, but in fact no longer provides advisory bays like this and the road may in any case be too narrow to safely accommodate one.”
