A COUNCIL has been urged to do more to promote disabled parking charges after unsuspecting motorists were hit with fines.

In January, Darlington Borough Council began charging blue badge holders to use their off-street car parks.

Previously, those with blue badges could park for up to three hours for free in council run car parks and on-street disabled bays and without limit in other on-street bays.

Councillor Anne-Marie Curry has now urged more to be done to promote the charges - especially those who live outside of the town, who she says are likely to be unaware of the cost.

"I would also like signage to be better so no mistakes can be made and the two items on the pay board relating to parking for disabled need to be clearer.

"Yellow sign should not be so high in the air - if we want people to visit Darlington let’s not ticket them so let's make sure they know they need to pay."

Gordon Pybus, chair of Darlington Association on Disability, has called for a review of all the blue badge pay signs in all the council’s car parks.

"It was disappointing that the decision to charge blue badge users for off-street parking was made in the first place," he added.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: “Since parking charges were introduced for Blue Badge holders in off-street car parks, we’ve worked hard to make people aware of the change.

“Additional signage has been introduced around the car parks, including large yellow signs at the entry points and further information close to the pay and display machines."