Mum distraught after being told her car would be towed away and that she can no longer use her disabled parking bay

By Davina Hyde

A single mum with a disabled daughter is distraught after she was told her car would be towed away and she can no longer use her disabled parking bay.

Vicki Murphy, of Arabella Street, Bermondsey, found a notice on her car which said she had to move it or it would be towed away, from a disabled bay that was allocated to her when she first moved into her apartment eight years ago.

The notice, stuck on her car with tape, and signed by the car park manager, Ola, ended with the words “Please do not contact me once your vehicle is removed as I will be unable to help you”.

The 43 year-old single mum-of-two says her daughter, Monique, has a rare bone disease called spondolymetaphseal syndrome, which affects the major bones in her body.

She has had multiple operations and is due another one soon.

Vicki says she does not know how she is going to get Monique to hospital for her appointments, or bring her back from hospital after her operation without a car space outside her apartment.

She says her daughter cannot walk far, and will need a wheelchair to walk any distance to get to her parked car, if a space can be found in the nearby streets.

Vicki, a professional photographer, has been working in a supermarket since the lockdown.

Vicki said: “The housing manager at the time we moved in took my daughter and myself down and showed us which one was ours.

“I struggle as a single parent already and it’s really the last thing I need.

“I met the car park manager, Ola, when my car wasn’t working a few months ago. I went down and he decoded my keys for me so that I could get into the car park. He came and dropped the keys off to me once he decoded it.

“When I called him to ask why he had stuck a notice on my car he said that I am not assigned to a car space – which I have had for eight years.

“He says my name isn’t on the computer, so the bay is not mine, but my name must have been on the computer when he decoded my keys a few months ago to let me in the car park.

“He is quite new, he has been here two to three years. He has not asked me to move my car in that time. I am stressing out, I don’t know what to do.

Audrey Williamson, Head of Housing for Hyde, said: “All of the parking bays were allocated at the time of moving in or sold at point of purchase by leaseholders buying homes in the car park under Parker Buildings.

“We have no information on our records to show that Ms Murphy has any bay allocated or purchased as part of her moving into her building.

“Unfortunately there are no spare parking bays, and anybody parking in somebody else’s parking bay is parking there without permission.

“Ms Murphy can apply for on street parking, which she can do by contacting her local authority.”

Pictured top: The car park