AN ELDERLY woman has blasted Glasgow City Council for putting her through a three-year fight after she parked in a city centre disabled bay – despite her being a blue badge holder.

Sandra Stevenson was slapped with a fine for parking in the Queen Street bay in November 2015 for a total of 15 minutes, with council bosses claiming her disability badge wasn’t visible.

The 72-year-old, from Airdrie, tried to rectify the situation by informing the local authority she had held a blue badge for almost 15 years, after fibromyalgia and other illness left her in constant agony and she was forced to undergo two spinal surgeries.

But she says the council were dismissive and stated the fee still stood because her badge wasn’t properly displayed, leaving her in a terrified over the potential cost.

Read more: 2,500 tickets handed out to people using disabled parking bays in Glasgow 

She told the Evening Times: “Originally I thought somebody had cloned my card, because there wasn’t a ticket left on my car.

“But it turns out somebody had removed it from my car. If I had seen the ticket, I would’ve found the parking attendant and shown my badge but I called the number on the ticket and explained if my badge wasn’t visible it must’ve fallen or something.

“They wouldn’t listen. They want £60. There are people who use badges illegally they’re not catching but want £60 from me over an accident.”

Sandra appealed but the decision was upheld. However, she was horrified to receive a letter in the post on August 11 demanding she pay up or risk the fee being increased.

She said: “If I don’t pay it within a fortnight it’ll go up. It’s ridiculous, I couldn’t believe it when it came in.

“I wasn’t fit to go for the review because I am disabled. I had to have two spinal surgeries because the bone was digging into the nerves in my spine and I have days in constant pain.

Read more: More people can apply for Blue Badge under pilot project

“I barely drive but I recently stopped a parking attendant who was checking my badge and he told me he once stopped a person who had been using the card of deceased person, that’s who they should be after. Not me.”

Sandra worked in production roles, often being required to carry out heavy lifting and travelling over the country, prior to taking on a job at a cystic fibrosis charity following her daughter’s diagnosis.

She was forced into early retirement at 59 after being diagnosed with the nervous system condition fibromyalgia, however, she continues to volunteer for the charity in her daughter’s memory.

“I’ve worked my butt off all my life,” she said, “now I just don’t know what to do.

“I can’t afford it but if I have to pay it, I’ll have to pay it. I can’t believe it’s gone on this long.

“I just think it’s disgusting. I feel like I’ve been singled out.”

Sandra has now reached out to her local politicians for support.

However, a spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: “This parking ticket has been through all the appeals system with the independent adjudicator upholding the original decision.

"The rules clearly state that blue badges need to be displayed at all times.”