Bournemouth Councillor Susan Phillips Resigns From Role After ‘Too Many Disabled Bays’ Comment
A councillor has resigned from her role as equality and diversity champion after a rant about disabled parking spaces at a shopping centre was recorded.
Susan Phillips said that there should be fewer disabled parking bays as people in wheelchairs ‘aren’t going to walk around’ and use the centre.
Conservative Mrs Phillips was recorded making the controversial remarks to an operator as she paid off a £60 fine for parking in a disabled bay.
She had illegally parked in one of the 144 reserved yellow spaces at the Castlepoint shopping centre in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Although the car park has 2,800 bays in total, the town hall official claimed she spent 45 minutes trying to find a space before parking her Volkswagen Beetle in a disabled bay.
When she returned to her car, Mrs Phillips found a parking ticket on her windscreen.
In the recorded telephone call she had with an operator with Devere Parking Serices, she
said: ‘I actually feel when you have 12 bays all empty for disabled, and I drove around for three quarters of an hour trying to park and couldn’t, I find that people who are disabled basically, they aren’t going to walk around and I think they have far too many disabled parking bays.’
Mrs Phillips stuck to her views and later said: ‘I would say disabled people who drive perhaps don’t frequent the likes of Castlepoint because it’s so far to walk everywhere.
‘There were 10 or 12 disabled spaces free and I was driving around and around but I know that doesn’t make it OK.
‘I was against the clock that day. You do the crime and you pay the bill and I should not have parked there.
‘I was very upset about what I’d done, I’ve never parked in a disabled space before.’
Helen Dolphin, a spokeswoman for Disabled Motoring UK, said Mrs Phillips’ comments ‘show how little she knows about the needs of disabled people in her area’.
She said: ‘The fact that they won’t be walking around is probably correct as they will probably be in wheelchairs or mobility scooters.
‘That’s not to say there won’t also be disabled people walking around.
‘It might be that at other times those disabled parking spaces are packed.’
Mrs Phillips has worked as Bournemouth Borough Council’s champion for equality and diversity since May.
She voiced her controversial views despite having undergone training for the role.
To Susan Phillips I say: I’m disabled. I have a Blue Badge and use Blue Badge spaces often. I’m also lucky enough to be able to walk around!
Same Difference 
like all Tories when they come across a problem they blame others in this case people who are disabled
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It is surprising that Councillor Phillips actually trained and worked for the council for equality and diversity!
Even pushed with time, it is cleared that she shouldn’t have parked in a blue badge only space (144 out of 2,800 parking bays) which she found was too many spaces for disabled people…A bit odd to say that even though she regrets having parked there.
As Helen Dolphin pointed out, it shows how little Mrs Phillips knows about the needs of disabled people in her area. Disabled access is already an issue in so many domains, let’s not make things harder by stealing their parking space for the sake of parking closer for those who aren’t wheelchair bound. Pure inconsideration. It’s a lot worse and a lot more stressful for a blue badge holder to not find a space available.
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