Driven out of town!

The 29-year-old wheelchair user and motorist took me on a tour of disabled bays shortly after 10.15am on Tuesday last week.

Laura is paralysed from the chest down following a spinal cord haemorrhage after a long haul flight when she was just 16.

Fiercely independent, she often shops alone and needs to park her Mazda3 hatchback close enough to Broad Street and the Oracle to reach her favourite shops and make return trips to the car if she accumulates too many bags.

But since traffic changes came into effect in April in readiness for the £850m Reading Station upgrade, Laura feels rules restricting private motorists entering Friar Street, West Street, and St Mary's Butts between 7-11am and 4-7pm unfairly penalise disabled drivers because that is where many blue badge parking bays are. She tries to avoid the town centre's multi storey car parks because although they have bays for disabled drivers there is no concessions on the steep parking fees..

The professional dancer from Woodley, who works for disabled and able bodied performing arts company StopGAP, says: "It's ridiculous - I feel like we are being squeezed out of Reading - we are being marginalised. Attitudes to disability are changing so access should be improving. I've gone to places and seen how they are working to improve things but in my home town it feels as if they don't want me to shop here any more."

10.22am: Starting from King's Road we headed to Abbey Square where one of two disabled spaces is free. As we approached, another car signalled to pull in. Turning left back onto King's Road, two out of nine spaces were vacant. But Laura complained that she has problems here in her wheelchair because of the gradient towards King Street, and the perils of crossing the road at Jacksons Corner where the traffic lights have been removed. She said: "It's dangerous for those of us who take longer to cross the road - especially when buses pull around the corner."

10.33am: In The Forbury, opposite Reading Crown Court, two cars pipped us for the last of the seven bays. As we u-turned, another frustrated driver made a similar manoeuvre.

Peter Bridges from Calcot and his mother Pat, who has a blue disabled badge, grabbed one of those last places. He said: "We've been lucky to get one today but there are just not enough spaces."

10.44am: There are three bays in Blagrave Street - a prime spot - but all were full. There used to be three disabled spaces at the eastern end of Friar Street but they have been turned into a taxi rank.

10.56am: There was one unoccupied bay out of seven in Oxford Road opposite Cheapside, but two spaces in Castle Street were taken and Laura told me three spaces - two of which were free - in Howard Street are too far from the town centre for her. One of three spaces in St Mary's Butts just before the restricted zone was free but she doubted whether the gap was long enough to leave sufficient space to unload her wheelchair.

11.10am: As it was now past 11am we drove into the restricted section of St Mary's Butts but already seven out of eight spaces were filled outside De Ja Vu bar, plus another three spaces set on Broad Street's pedestrianised zone outside KFC.

11.15am: In West Street five of 10 spaces were occupied, but as we approached Primark a large minibus pulled in - taking up two of them. In Friar Street there were two spaces free out of five.

11.28am: We arrived back in King's Road after 5.3 miles. Before I helped Laura to cross the road in her wheelchair, she said: "There are a couple of times when I have driven round for 30 minutes and I have given up and gone home. You have to keep on going round and it takes out a big chunk of your day. A lot of people with disabilities are on benefits and have to be careful with their money, and it is frustrating."

John Lyttle, 64, from Fernbrook Road, Caversham, who walks on crutches after a 1975 car accident is another frustrated disabled shopper. He said: "There are more and more people needing to use wheelchairs, yet they are pushing us further out of town - it's discrimination."

COUNCIL planning leader Tony Page claimed feedback on town centre changes was "overwhelmingly positive" but he is willing to listen, and said: "We have worked hard to ensure the number of bays have stayed the same, given the enormous pressures to balance the interests of disabled badge holders with bus passengers, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. Inevitably there are some teething problems but we will look at trying to accommodate people's concerns."

Disabled motorists can legally park on single and double yellow lines if they show their blue badge and parking clock, provided they are not obstructing the carriageway, junctions or loading bays.

The council has also opened up bus lanes for taxis with wheelchair accessible facilities and the Oracle runs a free mobility scheme.

For a full list of disabled bay locations and their time limitations see www.reading.gov.uk/station.

Residents have until October 30 to submit their views on the town centre changes.

Are you a disabled driver who has struggled to negotiate Reading town centre since the changes? Email mkusiobodum@berksmedia.co.uk