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Able-bodied people who park in spaces reserved for people with disabilities are committing a dog act.
As such, the Mercury was glad recently to bring readers the news of heavy penalties designed to deter and punish people who improperly park in these spaces.
But, in many cases, just enforcement of a rule relies on context, a dose of empathy, and a measure of commonsense.
When considering the recent experience of elderly St Vincent de Paul Society volunteer Ivan Pace, one can surmise that these factors were absent.
The rule book was consulted, thrown, and no correspondence was entered into.
Mr Pace, a pensioner, collects bread for the less fortunate.
He parks his car, ducks into a shopping centre to collect trolley-loads of donated bread, packs it in his car, then drives off to distribute it.
This week, as he has for 12 years, Mr Pace briefly used a car park designated for a person with a disability.
He was slapped with a fine.
The council ranger who issued the ticket afforded him no compassion.
Before you judge, consider this: Mr Pace was in a car park at 6.30pm on a Tuesday.
Almost all retailers were closed and there were few shoppers.
Empty parking spaces at close proximity to the centre’s entrance could be found at all points of the compass.
Did Mr Pace deserve a $519 fine? Did his fellow volunteer, aged 78, who parked alongside him in a separate vehicle and also copped a ticket?
According to the rules, yes.
When considered in context, with commonsense and empathy, absolutely not.