Chief Minister apologises after disabled parking gaffe

Friday 10 November 2017

The Chief Minister has apologised after official States vehicles were spotted in the disabled bays of a St Ouen restaurant car park.

The vehicles were apparently being used to transport delegates for the British Irish Council Summit which takes place in the island today.

Local environmental campaigner Ruth Baier-Rolls spotted the offending parking at El Tico yesterday afternoon.

She snapped the cars in situ - a car and van both clearly in front of signs stating ‘Disabled parking only please’ - and posted them on Facebook with the caption: “I didn’t know that so many of our politicians are disabled!…and where are the electric cars?”

While one islander joked, “Was the Chief Minister showing Apple executives around the island?” in relation to the recent Paradise Papers revelations, others took the parking incident more seriously.

Pictured: The parking complaint on Facebook.

One wrote that the move was "bad manners." A harsher critic said that it “shows disdain for the principals [sic] of accessibility.”

The Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, soon after sought to explain the situation. In a rare move, he replied in a Facebook comment. It emerged that the vehicles had been used to transport delegates due to attend today’s British Irish Council summit, which will be held at the L’Horizon hotel.

He expressed regret for the mistake, stating: “I’m very sorry that the cars were parked in disabled spaces. I was hosting a delegation of guests who are here for the British Irish Council summit tomorrow. It’s not the kind of behaviour I condone, so please accept my apologies.”

In response, one Facebook user commented that “the drivers were at fault, not the passengers”, adding that, “it is good to see the Chief Minister accept the wrongdoing.”

However, another pointed out: “If you were there you were quite capable of asking the drivers to move them.”