Plan B Forum

A war veteran faces a £70 fine if he leaves his car outside his home after he persuaded council officials to turn the space into a disabled bay, only to have his blue badge taken away months later.



Don Jones, 89, asked Swansea Council to mark up the parking space outside his front door as a designated disabled spot so that he could park there after undergoing a number of knee operations and struggling with arthritis. But the decorated war veteran has since been reassessed and no longer fits the council criteria to classify him as disabled.

This means he no longer has a blue badge and cannot park in the space outside his house without being fined £70.

The pensioner, who was awarded the Atlantic Star, said: 'I wont be able to park outside my own home without getting a ticket.' Mr Jones experienced the Blitz during World War Two devastate his home town of Swansea in south Wales and joined the Royal Navy. He served for two-and-a-half years on board the HMS Barclay Castle and was rewarded for his bravery on the Atlantic convoys.


Jones has had a blue badge for the last eight years. He asked Swansea Council to turn the parking space outside his house into a disabled pay to stop other drivers leaving their cars there.

But just months later he was told he had to reapply for his pass and needed to go for an interview with council chiefs. Mr Jones - who had to use a wheelchair to attend the interview - was told he no longer meets the criteria for a blue badge.

Council chiefs told him he was not disabled enough for the pass. He only scored 13 on their rating system and the cut off point is 15.

He added: 'I'm very annoyed. To think that it has come to this after all I went through in the war.
'They go through the trouble of giving me a disabled parking place outside my home and then in a matter of months they take my badge away.' Mr Jones now struggles with severe arthritis and ill health.

His granddaughter Amy Taylor has written to the council to complain. She said: 'My grandfather has severe arthritis in his feet, a colostomy, a urostomy and has had two knee replacements over the last year and he turns 90 this coming January

He asked Swansea Council to turn the parking space outside his house into a disabled pay