"THEY can take me to court -- I am not paying it!"

Those are the defiant words of a furious disabled woman after getting a parking ticket in Chorley town centre this week.

Disabled snooker champ Joan Cummings -- known locally for her work promoting sports -- got the fixed penalty notice after parking in a loading bay in Market Street for just 15 minutes on Friday.

"There was all the fairground in town so I couldn't park there," she told the Chorley Citizen: "I did not know they were loading bays outside Barclays Bank."

Joan, 58, of Draperfield, Chorley, said she often needs extra space when parking, so that she can get into her wheelchair beside the driver's seat.

And she said she believed she was parking legally, displaying her orange badge and clock on the dashboard.

But she was horrified when she came out of the bank to discover she had been booked. "I went in to the TSB at five to three and I came out at ten past. When I came back, there was this ticket.

"Where else can I park? It's becoming a nightmare," she stormed.

And she was adamant she will not pay. "They can take me to court. Enough is enough," she said.

Ironically, Joan says if she goes to court it will have to be Preston -- because she cannot get into Chorley in her wheelchair! "I have been in a wheelchair for 16 years. Everybody knows me in town. I am a sports woman and I am doing all I can for the sports forum."

But getting up and down Market Street in a wheelchair is a real ordeal, she said: "There is a limit to how far I can go and how far I can push myself."

According to a local Shopmobility adviser, disabled people are allowed to park for up to three hours on double yellow lines providing they are not causing an obstruction. However, they are not allowed to park anywhere on double yellows accompanied by yellow lines down the kerb -- usually during certain hours -- as these are unloading areas for wagons only.

A Chorley Police spokesman said it was the council's decision to site the fairground on disabled parking, and traffic wardens could not be expected to change the law for the duration of the fair.

Sergeant David Tonge, of Lancashire Police agreed, saying: "Disabled people have certain rights because of their disability and they get an orange badge as a result. But they must check traffic signs and loading restrictions."

He added: "A traffic warden's job is to clear the road of obstructions. Quite often if people have been given a fixed penalty, for whatever reason, we do, in some cases, advise them to write to the divisional commander to plead their case."

A council spokesman said he could not comment on the actions of the police and traffic wardens. He said: "We make the arrangements for setting up the fair but the normal traffic regulations will apply."

But some disabled parking spaces would have been lost on the Flat Iron car park because of the fair, he said.