A DISABLED Redditch resident is on the cusp of victory in his battle to get a parking spot outside his home.
Ray Prosser, aged 83, is a victim of osteoarthritis and has trouble getting about.
He was worried if he drove into town he would lost his parking spot, leaving him with a long and painful walk back to his front door.
It meant the Church Hill resident was spending £5 to £6 a time on taxis to get into the town centre.
The former motor mechanic said: “Some people in my close have three or four cars and there’s just no way my parking space would still be free when I got back home.
“I applied to the council to get a disabled person’s parking bay outside my home but that was some seven-and-a-half months ago and I’ve heard absolutely nothing from them.
“I’ve tried speaking to the council and have just got nowhere.”
In desperation Ray contacted his local councillor, Bill Hartnett (Lab, Church Hill) who immediately began to get the ball rolling.
He said: “Mr Prosser got in touch three to four weeks ago about this and of course I started looking into it immediately.”
When the Redditch Standard contacted Redditch Borough Council to find out what had happened to Ray’s blue badge bay, a spokesperson said: “We have received Mr Prosser’s application for a disabled car parking bay adjacent to his property and plans are currently ongoing to action this.
“In order to spend council taxpayers’ money efficiently, applications like this one are grouped with other similar requests so our contractors can complete them in one go.
“We are currently finalising a list, which includes Mr Prosser’s property and will be sent to our contractor shortly and completed in due course.”
Coun Hartnett said: “I’m delighted Mr Prosser’s parking bay will be sorted out at last although I can understand why they wanted to get six or seven prepared so they can do them as a job lot.”
The parking bay will be marked with a house number so drivers will know whose house it refers to.
Mr Prosser said: “This is wonderful news, absolutely wonderful.
“I only hope the council tells me when they are coming to do it so I can move my car.”
