Retiree slams bottlo for fencing him out
Sick of copping abuse in partially blocked disabled carpark
A RETIREE suffering from a long list of health issues has lashed out at a booze retailer on the Gold Coast which has repeatedly obstructed disabled carparking space.
Harry Gabbitass said Dan Murphy’s Southport has been partially blocking a disabled park next to the back door of its Queen Street store to make way for customers picking up orders.
The 79-year-old reckons he has copped a stream of abuse from frustrated drivers because his car cannot squeeze into the obstructed space and its rear hangs out, acting as a traffic hazard.
“It first happened around five or six weeks ago,” he said.
“When they first put the chains across the park I went and complained to the manager and she said she got my point but they’d been told to do it that way.
“I get abuse from people coming into the carpark because it’s two-way traffic and my car sticks out. I’ve been abused, honked at and had bad language directed at me.
“I told Dan Murphy’s again and they said they can’t do anything about it.”
Mr Gabbitass has had hip and knee replacements and suffers from a range of spinal issues, including arthritis, and as a result struggles with significant mobility issues.
The health issues slow the Main Beach resident down as he gets in and out of his car and makes it difficult to use narrower parking spaces.
“It takes me a while getting up or down and I can’t really get out of tight spaces,” he said.
Mr Gabbitass said he was worried other disabled people have faced the same problem.
“I’ve never seen anyone put a chain over a disabled park before,” he said.
“It’s disgusting. When I’ve been talking about it with them, people have been coming up and saying a lot of people have complained.”
The store has a couple more disabled parks, but Mr Gabbitass said they were usually full.
In response, a Dan Murphy’s spokeswoman apologised and thanked “him and our other Southport customers for their patience while we have redesigned a section of our car park”.
“We had traffic cones in place as a temporary safety measure for our team, who have been delivering directto-boot pick-ups to customers in our carpark,” she said.
“We rolled out direct-toboot service, which is a contactless pick-up option with customers staying in the car while their order is delivered to their car boot, in April as a response to COVID-19.
“Due to the popularity of the service, we have decided to keep direct-to-boot permanently and have now repainted the dedicated parking areas for this pick-up option to improve team safety, and no longer need to use the cones.
“This means all of our disabled carparks at our Southport store are now available.”