Traders and disabled motorists want a review of Bishop Auckland's disabled parking policy.

As part of The Northern Echo and Advertiser Series' Shopping for a Future campaign, Catherine Jewitt joined a disabled teenager and her mother to learn about the difficulties of shopping in the town.

WHEN I arrive at Irene Rispin's home she says that a quick look around town with her profoundly disabled daughter, Adele, always takes longer than planned.

Adele, 19, has cerebral palsy. She has no speech capability, requires a wheelchair to move around and needs constant care.

Just getting ready in the morning takes twice as long as it would for most families, with Mrs Rispin needing to tend to her daughter before getting herself ready for the trip.

She said: "She loves going to Murphy Crescent School, in Bishop Auckland, so can usually get up in the morning for that, but I would 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 is what I, and other disabled people, have to do."

At 9.10am, Mrs Rispin 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.

Mrs Rispin 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, although there are no dropped curbs to get on to the footpath.

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

"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."

The 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 council highways committee approved a traffic order restricting access to before 11.30am and after 4.30pm, but has agreed to meet Wear Valley district councillors to discuss parking issues in the town.

Mrs Rispin said: "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 a 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."