Court told of row over disabled parking bay

A ROW over the use of parking bays at Wexford Tesco reserved for the use of disabled customers led to a case heard at the District Court in Belvedere Road.

Steve Nixon, 32 Goodtide Harbour, Batt Street, successfully denied assaulting fellow taxi driver Terry O’Toole in the supermarket on May 22 last.

O’Toole told the court that he was 20-plus stone and that he suffered from both arthritis and type-two diabetes.

His evidence was that the accused had grabbed him by the arm as he came off the elevator on the ground floor of the supermarket.

The result, Judge Brian O’Shea heard, was a pulled shoulder muscle which required treatment with painkillers.

The witness further complained that, as he pushed his trolley out towards the car park, he had had been called an arsehole by Nixon.

This version of events was corroborated by his wife Angela Murphy O’Toole who made her way into the witness box with the assistance of a crutch.

She recalled how, on the day in question, she and her husband parked in a disability bay, for which they had a badge on their car.

They pointed out to the security man on duty that Nixon’s taxi had no such badge, though was also parked in one of the bays. The couple later made the same point to shop management.

Defending barrister Dorothy Donovan told the court that her client cleared the use of the bay with the security man.

When interviewed by Jennifer Desmond, the accused explained that he had picked up an elderly fare in Rosslare and brought him to the barber’s in the Tesco complex.

His vehicle then remained in the car park while he waited for the man, who had limited mobility, to have his hair cut.

He admitted calling O’Toole an ‘asshole’ and telling Ms Murphy O’Toole that she was ‘married to an asshole’. However, he denied any physical contact with the allegedly injured party.

CCTV footage was reviewed by the court but it did not show the area where the elevator reached the ground floor, though it did show the accused close to the complainant as the latter pushed his trolley.

Nixon was described by counsel as a soft-spoken gentle giant.

The judge noted that in his statement of complaint, O’Toole said that he was dragged to the barber’s but this did not appear to be the case, so he dismissed the charge.