Dyslexic driver to fight council over parking fine (From Your Local Guardian)

Dyslexic driver will fight Hounslow Council over confusing parking signs

10:10am Saturday 20th June 2009 in News By Lucy Buckland

ngry: Karis Halsall said she struggled to understand the road signs

A dyslexic driver who was slapped with a parking ticket has pledged to contest the fine in court – because she couldn’t understand the road signs.

Karis Halsall received a £50 parking ticket after she mistakenly parked in a tenant’s bay in Mayfield Avenue, Chiswick.

She repeatedly wrote to Hounslow Council to explain her disability meant she could not understand the signs – but despite the 21-year-old’s written protests, along with doctors’ letters, the council is taking her to court over the unpaid fine.

The university graduate has branded the council “ignorant” and says she is now determined to fight the ticket in court.

She claims she even offered to help the council make its road signs more dyslexia-friendly, but was turned down.

The Central School of Speech and Drama student said: “All through this procedure the council has treated my dyslexia as a fake disability.

“All correspondence with them has been blunt, curt and displayed the council’s ignorance.

“I even wrote the council letters telling them how to make the streets disability safe.

“As I have comprehension difficulties it takes me a lot longer to read signs and the signs in Mayfield Avenue are incredibly confusing, but the council has just refused to acknowledge the difficulties most people face.

“I am not stupid, I have three A grades at A-level – but again I have encountered people who refuse to take me seriously. It is humiliating.”

Karis received her ticket in May, after parking in Mayfield Avenue, which has both pay-and-display bays and permit spaces.

A council spokesman said it could not comment on the case as it was still ongoing, but said road signs were dictated by central Government.

Miss Halsall, who lives in Harrow, but takes singing lessons in Chiswick every week, said: “I’m not suggesting all parking signs are changed, that would be ridiculous and cost a lot of money, I’m only suggesting the signs which are confusing are changed.”

A spokesman for support charity Dyslexia Action said: “Dyslexia is a complex hidden disability that predominately causes difficulties with literacy, but mathematics, memory and organisational skills may also be affected.

“It is important to stress dyslexia does not affect intelligence and it can affect anyone of any age or background.

“Dyslexia can affect different individuals differently and one size certainly does not fit all.

“The important thing for those affected is that it does not have to be a barrier to success.”