A major corporation and the City of Maple Ridge are under fire over the alleged misuse of handicapped parking stalls.
Nick Smith is recovering from a serious leg injury. He goes to a Maple Ridge recreation centre for rehabilitation and was furious to see that a work crew hired by the city had covered two handicapped parking stalls with construction equipment.
"How can you put stuff in a handicapped stall? I asked them to have it removed. They absolutely refused," said Smith.
Smith was told the job of installing new sidewalks to improve pedestrian safety would take the disabled stalls out of service for two months.
The contractor insists the City of Maple Ridge told him to dump his equipment in the handicapped stalls and says two temporary disabled stalls have been designated in another area. But he admits to letting his workers park in two other handicapped stalls nearby.
"We take things for granted sometimes and we're in a hurry. We work long hours. There's so much traffic and congestion, so you kind of miss the small things that are big things to some people," said contractor Robbie Gulka.
In Chilliwack, another frustrated CTV viewer has snapped several photos over several weeks of staff vehicles parked in a handicapped stall on the side of a Canadian Tire store.
Consumer reporter Lynda Steele visited the store to get reaction from company officials. After showing the general manager photos of company vehicles parked in the handicapped spot, he told us it was quote "a simple oversight" on the part of his staff.
Canadian Tire’s head office told CTV in an email, "It's not acceptable that a company vehicle was parked in that spot. The store's management is aware and has made it clear that this parking is intended for customer use only."
The general manager promised he was going to stop staff from parking in the handicapped stall and when we checked back days later, the stall was clear.
As for the construction project in Maple Ridge, city officials told CTV News it's supposed to be wrapped up by the end of this month. They've also told the contractor his workers are not allowed to park in the handicapped spots.
