DRIVERS who exploit orange parking badges issued to the disabled have come under fire for clogging up Skipton streets.

While sympathising with the problems faced by the disabled, elderly and infirm who need easy access to the town centre, Skipton Police and Craven District Council are fed up with cars being parked irresponsibly.

Certain cases of rogue parking have been branded "traffic hazards", reducing roads to one lane.

And it has even been claimed that some able bodied people are abusing the orange badge scheme by driving and parking cars belonging to their disabled partner or friend.

Chief among the trouble spots in Skipton are the narrow section of High Street near the Nat West Bank, and most of Swadford Street, where cars parked on double-yellow lines can cause chaos, creating a bottleneck for cars using the Caroline Square roundabout.

Chairman of Craven District Council, Coun Janet Gott, said: "I have seen the traffic warden let people park on Sheep Street and they weren't even disabled.

"I think a lot of the time people are using the cars bearing orange badges when the disabled person isn't even in it.

"The High Street area is so cramped and crowded. When cars have to use the other side of the road to get around parked cars that's a definite traffic hazard and something needs to be done about it," she continued.

"People with these badges think they have the right to do what they want regardless of everyone else. The police have to put out cones but there needs to be a new look at the rules and regulations."

Fellow councillor Dennis Hall is a taxi driver with first hand experience of the problems caused by motorists abandoning their cars where they shouldn't.

He said: "Personally I think these orange badge holders are inconsiderate with where they park.

"As a taxi driver I know it causes congestion in the narrowest parts of the High Street.

"I accept the disabled have a problem with access but there has to be a balance."

Sgt Kevin Wilson, of Skipton Police, has said that there will continue to be an indiscriminate policy of ticketing anyone caught parking in the wrong place, particularly on market days.

The strong objections come in the same week that North Yorkshire County Council introduced new arrangements to ensure the easier issue of orange badges after complaints over delays.

The social services department has created a new central unit with two full time staff to process all applications.

Customer Relations Manager Sue Smith explained: "The new unit has to gather evidence of the disability of each applicant. Under the new system, over half received their badges in less than a fortnight and very few took longer than four weeks."

Ann Dufton, chairman of the Skipton & Craven Association for the Disabled (SCAD), defended the disabled community.

She told the Herald: "I can't comment on whether orange badges are being abused, but I can say that parking bays dedicated to the disabled are frequently occupied by non-orange badge holders.

"And if you happen to be around when the owners return to their cars they are quite obviously not disabled. But that obviously doesn't justify any misuse of the orange badge."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.