TRADERS and the disabled are calling for a rethink to Bishop Auckland town centre's disabled parking policy which they claim is too restrictive.

The Disability Access Forum, Bishop Auckland Chamber of Trade, the Town Centre Forum and Wear Valley Business Forum have all asked Durham County Council to allow an extra hour's parking in Newgate Street.

The county's highways committee has approved a traffic order restricting access to before 11.30am and after 4.30pm .

To illustrate their difficulties, Irene Rispin and her profoundly disabled teenage daughter Adele invited The Advertiser to observe how time-consuming a 'quick' visit to town can be.

Teenager Adele has cerebral palsy meaning she has no speech, is wheelchair bound and needs constant care.

Just getting ready on a morning takes twice as long as it would for most families, because Irene needs to tend to her 19-year-old daughter before she can get ready herself.

She said: "She loves going to Murphy Crescent School in Bishop Auckland, so can usually get up in the morning for that but I'd never dream of getting her up early on other days.

"But to make it into Bishop Auckland in time to find an empty disabled parking space, within the allocated time that's what I, and other disabled people, have to do."

Around 9.10am Irene sets up a ramp to wheel Adele into her specially adapted van, secures the chair in place, reloads the ramp and at 9.20am pulls away from her home in Hardisty Crescent, Woodhouse Close Estate.

It is just a five-minute drive to the town centre but as there are no spaces free on Newgate Street, the town's main shopping area, it is 9.35am before we park in Westgate Road.

Irene considers herself lucky to find a space at the end of a block because it gives her enough space to set up the ramp at the rear of her vehicle, though there are no dropped curbs to get on to the footpath.

Irene, who is chairperson of the Wear Valley Disability Access Forum, said: "Every disabled person has their own problems when shopping in the town, but we almost all experience trouble when parking.

"People who are self-propelled or have respiratory problems really need to park in the main street.

"The shop assistants make an effort to help us, if the parking was just a bit more flexible it would be much nicer visiting the town."

Irene added: "The best disabled spaces only give people an hour in the town, which is nowhere near long enough to use the bank, post office and buy a couple of items, let alone have a drink or bite to eat.

"Just an extra hour at either end of the day would help, it is difficult enough to fit everything into an hour without the extra time it takes for a disabled person to get into and around town."

The county council's highways committee has agreed to meet with Wear Valley District councillors to discuss parking issues in the town.