A pensioner has had to fork out almost £200 in parking fines after he says it appears new rules suddenly came into play forcing blue badge holders to pay to park on Bolton Market's Ashburner Street car park.

Daniel Spencer, age 83, who is a blue badge holder, was first issued a parking fine in August on Ashburner Street at Bolton Market despite “having the badge on full display”.

Mr Spencer, who lives Middle Hulton has also said how it is easy for people who are not digitally savvy be fined while out shopping - with his granddaughter helping him navigate the rules.

He said he believes the rules about everyone having to pay to part at Ashburner Street came into play recently.

And according to the council he is not the only one who has complained about parking near the market.

Mr Spencer says that the change seems to have come in August of this year and that he believes the change is not 'clearly advertised'.

Just over a year ago The Bolton News highlighted how another shopper was issued a fine  despite paying after struggling with a modern day parking machine.

 

(Image: Leah Collins)

Daniel said: “I have parked on this road on numerous occasions over the years with my badge displayed without any problem or requirement for payment, so with that in mind I assumed the letter I received may be a scam and my granddaughter helped me appeal it instead of paying the fine.”

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After Mr Spencer received no response to the appeal, he visited Bolton Market a second time to find out more about the parking system.

He said: “I asked in the office what was going on. They told me that the land was owned by a private parking company, so there wasn’t much they could do.

“But you must pay for parking via the app, which is inaccessible to pensioners and people who aren’t online, they don’t use the internet.”

Whilst waiting for a response to his appeal, Mr Spencer received two more fines in September – despite maintaining that he kept his blue badge on display.

(Image: NQ)

Overall, he was charged a total of £170 for the three tickets.

He added: “I moved to Bolton in the 70s and it was never like this.

“It’s very frustrating, they’re doing to people who don’t understand how the app works. 

“It’s not right, people who can’t go online, they can’t appeal. I was lucky in that I had my granddaughter to walk me through the process, but other people might not necessarily have that.

(Image: Leah Collins)

CEO of Age UK Bolton, Lauren McKechnie said: “It’s a real barrier for older people in the digital age as often parking is becoming increasingly app based.

“We have been working with Bolton Council to amend this issue, who have been really receptive to our feedback.

“Last year we put together an engagement paper working with local charities, which we presented to the council, and they were very grateful.

“It’s a challenge, but we are looking to working with the council to ensure that the town centre parking is kept accessible for elderly people and Blue Badge holders.”

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “The market car park on Ashburner Street is operated by NCP and accepts payment by cash, card or via the app.

“We’ve received a few complaints about Blue Badge users having to pay on the site as they thought it was free parking, which isn’t the case.  

“Free parking is available around the town centre for Blue Badge users in any pay and display on-street parking bay, as well as the disabled bays located in the town centre.”

A spokesman for  NCP said: "We can confirm that blue badge holders do need to pay for their parking when parking at Ashburner Street.  

"They are allowed to use the disabled bays as long as they have displayed their blue badge permit, and they have paid for their parking.  

"We can also confirm that there are 4 different ways to pay for their parking on this site. They can pay by cash or card, they can pay by phone, or they can pay by App.  

"There are two payment machines on site and one of those machines is very close to the disabled bays.  

"Although blue badge holders do need to pay for their parking on this site, they are able to park at no cost in one of our 12 disabled bays provided on our Octagon surface site car park for up to 3 hours, as long as they display their blue badge permit."

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at leah.collins@newsquest.co.uk.