In a break with precedent, members of the Parking Commission voted unanimously at their most recent meeting to void a ticket issued to a motorist who parked in a disabled space on Elm Street.
Scott Lee told the commissioners during an appeal hearing held May 2 at Town Hall that he was driving his elderly father to breakfast on the morning of April 4 and parked in a disabled space out front of Dunkin Donuts.
Lee said his father is 75, recovering from a stroke and disabled, and that although he had applied for a permit and placard, he didn’t yet have those items to display in his car.
“We were in the process of getting it and didn’t have it that day,” Lee told the Commission.
Lee said he and his father had been headed to Le Pain Quotidien on Elm Street for breakfast. Records show that the $150 ticket was issued at 8:56 a.m.
During deliberations, Commissioner Pam Crum noted that the ticket was issued April 4 and that the permit was issued in the same month.
The Parking Commission in the past has made it a policy to uphold tickets for those who park in spaces reserved for the disabled. In this case Crum, Chairman Keith Richey and Commissioners Stuart Stringfellow, Peter Ogilvie and Chris Hering voted 5-0 to void.