Caughtya™
A "Hall of Shame" to expose cars parked illegally
in disability or mobility parking spaces.
A "Hall of Shame" to expose cars parked illegally
in disability or mobility parking spaces.
I was at my local shopping mall today, and saw a guy park in a mobility space, without a placard. I took a photo. Then I looked for a security guard, as they have been ticketing cars parked without permits. I found one, and my simple request that he ticket the vehicle turned into a heated 15 minutes discussion that left me really unhappy.
I approached the security guard, and asked him if he could ticket. He said that he could. I pointed at the minivan, indicating it did not have a parking permit.
The guard said: "He's not going to be long, he's only dropping off a carpet cleaning machine". And then he refused to go ticket the vehicle.
He then told me that he wasn't going to hassle me for taking a photo of the car. He informed me there's a strict no photography policy on the mall's property. That took me by surprise. I asked him to see a copy of the policies saying that.
He said: "You don't need to see that".
His tone was rather aggressive. I asked him what his name was. He refused to give me his name.
I asked why he wasn't going to ticket the car. He said something like the guy was only there for a moment, and that by the time he got to the car and issued a ticket, the driver would be back and would just tear up the ticket anyway. We'd already been discussing things for about 5 minutes. The car was about 50m from us. Had the security guard walked to the car when I first asked, it would have been done a long time ago.
I asked about "parking". I said that the car was stopped, the engine turned off, the doors locked, and the driver had left the vehicle. It looked like parking to me. Doesn't matter that it is only one minute or five or an hout.
The guard explained that it didn't matter anyway, that they weren't tickets, they were just warnings. I rephrased what he'd said and asked him to confirm it. None of the tickets issued for illegally using the disability parking spaces are actually parking infringement notices, they are merely warnings. No wonder the guards don't bother anymore.
We went around the issue of photographing the vehicle. He told me he'd be quite angry if I took a photo of his car. I said that not only I would take a photo of his car if it were parked in a mobility parking space without a permit, but I would put it up online! I asked him if he understood why I was angry when people parked illegally in disability spaces without permits. He did not respond, he just said I shouldn't take photos anywhere on the shopping mall property. I asked again to be shown that policy. He finally told me that I should go speak to the shopping mall information booth.
He then asked me *my* name. So I asked him his name again. He refused again.
I asked him to lower his tone that he didn't need to be so aggressive. I was just trying to understand things correctly. He said (in a a high pitched, aggressive tone) "I'm not aggressive".
Eventually he told me his first name (unless he lied), and said that he wasn't even supposed to be working that day, that he'd been called in, and that he was being split into many tasks all at the same time! He said he was going to file a report about the incident. Fair enough.
Because I will be writing the management company about it as well. Because I will be following up with mall management, I am not naming it here.
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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009 and is filed under Drive-by.
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Tags:
Disability, Infringement, Mall, Mobility, Parking, Security Guard
Comment by: Webmaster
Well, it's not because you don't see a sign in the photo that there wasn't one. That said, even if there was no sign, the parking space is clearly marked and designated as a disability parking space, through markings on the ground. The lack of "proper" signage does not mean the space is not a
Comment by: wut
I don't see a sign, therefor the handicap space is not valid.
Comment by: Webmaster
I do think that increased fines would make a big difference. However, the fines are really only applicable on "public" property. Anything in a store carpark, or university, it's all deemed private property and traffic warden are not allowed to ticket there... *that* would be an important change to allow.
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Follow-up:
Approximately 3 hours later, I was back at that mall for another errand. I stopped at the helpdesk. The woman at the desk was on the phone. I sent a quick txt while she finished that call. Then I asked her if I could have a copy of the policy stating that photography was not allowed in the mall. She said she didn't have a copy, it would be in the management office, but that it was closed. She suggested she could get the manager to call me. I said I didn't need the manager to contact me. I wanted to know if the policy was available, and it wasn't. All I needed to know. I thanked her and left.
2 hours after that, realising I had forgotten something, I went back. Managed to take two pictures, FTW!!! Anyway, as I was on my way out of the mall, the same guard I had interacted with earlier was next to the help desk and waved me over. He told me he had spoken to his manager who wanted my contact details to follow up. I gave him my name (again) and my phone number. I said that I was going to follow up myself. The guard then told me "You didn't need to talk to her the way you did". I asked what way was that? And he said I'd been rude!
I turned to the woman, and asked her point blank if I'd been rude to her. She hesitated, mumbled something but not a response. I reiterated my perception of our exchange, as stated a couple paragraphs ago.
They then started telling me that because of Privacy reasons I couldn't take photos of people in the mall. I pointed out that I was not actually taking photos of people, but that in any case, it was untrue that such photos couldn't be taken on that basis.
It's worth noting that previous interactions with the mall owners have all been positive and good. This is the first time I've been treated this way.
Truly disturbing and frankly disgusting behavior on their part. The only place I have heard of a no photo policy is at the US Open & golf, rock concert, printed on the ticket. They're condoning illegal behaviour and harassing dis-abled people= wrong...
Here in the UK, most shopping precincts have a no-photography policy. I have no idea why.
It was explained to me that there is a fear of "commercial espionnage". Another fear is the privacy of their patrons (never mind all the CCTV that's ALL over the place. I've recently read something about fear of terrorism.
FWIW, many of those no-photography policies are either illegal, or unenforcable. Security guards, or even the police, tend to intimidate people unecessarily.