A 93-year-old visually impaired Warrington woman could be prevented from attending weekly sessions at the town’s blind centre – because she is “trapped” in her home by parked cars.
Brenda Snelfon, of St Peter’s Way, feels she is a “burden” to the volunteer workers who come to collect her every week because they have to push her wheelchair a long way round the block.
The volunteers keep telling her she is not a burden – but she feels she should stop going to the centre.
Now Fairfield and Howley councillor Kevin Bennett has taken up the cudgels on her behalf.
He said: “Mrs Snelfon has been complaining to Warrington Borough Council and Golden Gates Housing for some time but getting nowhere.
“A mini-bus comes to take her to the blind centre every week but the dropped kerb provided by the council to allow access for wheelchairs is usually blocked by a parked car.
“The volunteers have to push her the long way round the block.
“She has complained to the council’s highways department but they say the land belongs to Golden Gates Housing (GGHT).
“GGHT say they cannot put down parking restrictions because it is the responsibility of the highways department.
“Mrs Snelfon has had to give up using her disabled scooter, although she says she would have been unable to use it anyway because she would not have been able to access the dropped kerb.”
Cllr Bennett added: “I contacted highways and they said they would send her an application form to request parking restriction markings. But they wanted £64 to do it and Mrs Snelfon doesn’t have that kind of money to spend on something like this.
“I asked GGHT if they would cover the cost, but they said it wasn’t their responsibility. I went back and forth a few times but kept getting the same answers – neither would accept responsibility.
“What I don’t understand is why the council would lower the kerb to provide access to a parking spot without restricting parking that blocks the access.”
In the meantime, Mrs Snelfon is still saying she will stop going to the blind centre because she feels a burden.
A spokesperson for Warrington Council said: ““We appreciate Mrs Snelfon’s predicament and will shortly be visiting St Peter’s Way to assess the situation.”
2 Comments
As VIP chair and for the society for over 7 years I can say that no traffic issue is too much for us to overcome and that we will get our members to their destination. We even got double lines put down in Ross Close so that we and local residents could get through the primary school cars that were parked on either side of the road – this did take a long campaign but we got there in the end. We take pride in the service that we offer our members and will make sure that we pick them up and deliver them to where they need to go – nothing is too much trouble for us – we are here to serve our members with a smile.
Our manager has told me that Benda’s main issue is when the weather is bad – being in a wheelchair she can get wet and cold. I will pick up the problem and see what can be done to make the transition from home to mini bus to make her journey better.