Town hall refuse to cancel fine given to OAP living on benefits

A cash-raising campaign has been launched to help a disabled pensioner on benefits pay for a ticket he was given for parking in a marked disabled space on a hospital visit.

David Eton, 70, “couldn’t believe it” after being slapped with a £135 fine for stopping in the bay outside the Whittington Hospital, in Magdala Avenue, Archway - signs outside indicating it was for people with disabilities, but it’s actually only for disabled drivers who live in that road.

Islington Council refused to cancel the ticket and as Mr Eton has to get by on just £140 a week, one of his neighbours has set up a fundraising page to help him pay the fine.

He said: “I’m really grateful to everyone.

“I’m a pensioner and I only get £140 to live on, so after I pay this what’s left?

“I can’t understand why I got the ticket in the first place.

“Other people will be getting caught out too - there not going to hospital for the fun of it.

“I’ve just been in hospital for the past week, and this stress isn’t helping.”

A few days after finding out the decision by the Council to turn down his parking appeal, Mr Eton was taken by ambulance to hospital suffering from chest pains.

His Good Samaritan neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I am setting up this fundraising page with the permission of his wife to try to help him out and to show him that not everyone believes people should be treated in this way.

“Please show your support with a donation, however small.”

In the past few years hundreds of disabled people could have been caught out, with Islington Council raking in up to £50,000 a year in the process.

Plucky blind pensioner Elizabeth Jones, 86, took the town hall to task when she was caught in the same spot in 2013.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request she submitted revealed the council dished out a whopping 414 tickets at the bays in 2012.

A council spokesman said he was unable to obtain figures for the bays for 2014.

He added: “This parking space is one of three bays allocated to specific individual residents.

“The residents who have permission to park there have been medically assessed and need a dedicated parking space in this location.

“We need to make sure these bays are always available for the authorised residents, and whilst we are sorry a ticket was issued in this case, we believe the signs and road markings are clear.”