Caughtya™

No excuse for CT State vehicle to park while shopping!

This Dodge Caravan, plate 5 7862, was parked illegally in a disability parking space at Danbury - Danbury Fair Mall on July 27, 2007

Other details, if available

Poster's note: No Handicapped permit or plates. Just taking up a reserved handicapped space while the inconsiderate state driver shops in the Danbury Fair Mall. Because of this, a customer had to drop off her handicapped husband & wheelchair while she had to park her legal handicapped van on the third level parking area. Shame on the state!!!

2 Responses to “No excuse for CT State vehicle to park while shopping!”

1. Tara says:

   5 August 2007 at 4:22 pm

   To all those who were not present at this "big picture" taking event, if you had stayed around long enough to notice, you would have seen two employees walking out of the mall with 4, YES, FOUR, handicapped and mentally challenged adults!

   However, upon leaving the van, I did not notice that I must have knocked the handicapped permit off of the mirror. If you looked in the window upon further inspection, it was on the floor in plain sight!

   As being an employee of the state, we are obligated to carry the permits wherever we should travel with clients who have special needs. The plates will not have the handicapped marker, because permits are given out based on the individual's needs.

   Many times as being the driver, I see alot of this behavior. I am not angry, I applaud people who bring this to other's attention. I know it is aggravating for any persons with disabilities, many times I have seen people have no disregard for the W/C vans. People just seem to park on the side where the ramp needs to come down; and the majority of them ignore the asking to allow 6-8 feet away for proper use.

   As for the sentence that goes along with the picture, that an inconsiderate state employee shops in the mall, as a state employee, you NEVER shop or do anything that does not involve your clients!
2. Webmaster says:

   6 August 2007 at 9:04 am

   Hello Tara, thank you for the explanation of the events.

   It is unfortunate that the permit had fallen on the ground. There is a reason that permits should be hanging from the rearview mirror or on the dashboard. Not everyone can stand up and peer on the floor of a van.

   There are those who say that the disability parking permit should apply only to the driver. If a non-disabled driver is giving a ride to one, or several, people with disabilities, they should drop them at the curb/entrance, and go find parking elsewhere, leaving the premium, high demand spaces for those who don't have the choice of going parking elsewhere. Of course, that's not always possible, but it's food for thoughts.

   I'm glad to hear that you are a consciencious state employee that respects the rules :) I'm willing to bet that there are some who couldn't care less about the rules though.