Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘I nearly got hit by a BMW’: Aberdeen wheelchair user slams city pavement blockers

Ean says he has been forced to 'drop into live traffic' due to parked cars.

Ean Watt.
Ean Watt has been forced into live traffic due to pavement parking. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

An Aberdeen wheelchair user has hit out at drivers who continue to park on Granite City pavements despite the ban.

Ean Watt, was one of a number of people that took to the streets outside the Town House in Aberdeen this morning to raise awareness on the issue.

The pavement parking ban came into force in Aberdeen on July 1.

Speaking to The P&J, Mr Watt, a board member of charity Future Choices who arranged the event, said: “I’ve almost been knocked down, because you have to go on to the road.

“I almost got hit once by a lovely BMW.”

Addressing concerns that the new rules are another war on motorists, he does not think this is the case and says it is more than being an “inconvenience” to wheelchair users.

No parking awareness.
Charity Future Choices made their voice heard outside the Town House today. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

He added: “When you go down a certain part of a pavement, you get to where a car’s parked, you can’t get past.

Pavement parkers force wheelchairs into traffic

“You’ve got to come off, there’s no dropped kerb and you’re dropping into live traffic sometimes with cars who you can’t see.

“Some wheelchairs that are electric, they can’t turn in a circle on a tight street, so they’re stuck.

“They have to get someone to help them and there’s people with buggies and blind people.”

Activists set out a number of no parking signs on the pavement outside the offices of city councillors to spell out the same word to get their message across.

David Forbes.
David Forbes is the chairman of Future Choices. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

Future Choices chariman David Forbes said today’s event was to: “Step up the awareness campaign on behalf of the vulnerable and those with visual impairments to say that it’s not right that you park on pavements because it obstructs the accessibility.”

Earlier this week, The P&J reported that a Kincorth man and his neighbours were fined for parking “half on, half off” the pavement and grass verges outside their homes and Mr Forbes has heard people saying that parking like this is not a “big issue”.

Pavement parkers urged to ‘put their shoes on the other foot’

However, he urged people to “put their shoes on the other foot”, adding: “I understand there is a lot of challenges of being able to park outside your house, I get that.

“But we have to be the voice of disabled people and the vulnerable and say, ‘look, the law is there, it’s clear you can’t park on pavements’, because it does impact on the daily lives of those.”

Cars parked on pavements.
Drivers parking on pavements in Aberdeen will be fined £100, although it will be reduced by half if paid within 14 days. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

Earlier this month, Aberdeen City Council announced that 12 streets in the city would be exempt from the new rules, including Bedford Avenue and Great Northern Road, and this is something that Mr Forbes said he “understands”.

“I appreciate that some streets have to be exempt, I totally get that and we’re not arguing that,” he added.

Kevin Stewart and David Forbes.
MSP Kevin Stewart is supportive of the new measures. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson.

‘It is inconsiderate to park on pavements’

Former Scottish Government transport minister and MSP for Aberdeen Central Kevin Stewart was at today’s event and said he was “really pleased” that the Scottish Parliament approved this legislation.

He added: “I’m pleased that Aberdeen City Council are finally getting round to enforcing this. There is a real difficulty with pavement parking in certain parts of our city, which impedes wheelchair users, those with buggies and those who are infirm on their feet.

“It is inconsiderate to park on pavements and hopefully this will make a real difference to folks’ lives and make folk feel safer.”

Conversation