A PENSIONER couple claimed today that they have been ‘trapped’ into a £100 parking fine at the Oak Mall.

Blue badge holders James and Agnes Anderson have been hit with the penalty after using a disabled space at Hunter Place.

The move comes despite there being no sign at the bay to indicate that registered disability users must pay to park there.

James, 73, said: “I think it’s absolutely shocking. I don’t know why the Mall allows a private company to do this.

“Surely it’s driving people away rather than attracting them in?

“There’s nothing at the disabled parking space to say that you have to pay — nothing to direct you to the ticket machine.

“It’s almost as if you are being lured in and trapped to pay a fine. They’re just setting folk up for a fall.” James and Agnes — who are originally from Greenock but now live in Paisley — parked up in the space nearest the Mall and facing the public toilets in Hunter Place.

A check by the Tele confirmed that a solitary sign telling blue badge holders that they must pay £1 per hour to park there stands several feet behind the parking spot.

James told how wife Agnes, 75, gets around on two sticks and can only walk around 50 yards before she has to rest, adding: “We just assumed that normal disabled parking rules applied.” Agnes said: “We travel down regularly to Greenock and we got a fine a few months ago which we paid because we couldn’t remember if we’d displayed our badge or not — but we made sure of it this time.

“It’s very worrying when you get penalty notices like this and you can’t understand why.” James added: “We like to sit in Aulds and have a bit of lunch and then have a wee wander through the Mall, then maybe go down to the Esplanade with an ice cream.

“We’d come to Greenock to get the Telegraph calendars — we buy five every year to send off to Australia and the United States. I was just dumbfounded when we got this fine through the door.

“Their system clearly doesn’t work properly because we’ve parked in that spot several times before without receiving any fine.” Operators Creative Parking Solutions today insist that it is clear that blue badge holders are not exempt from paying.

Their spokesman Alun Marks said: “Spaces in this car park are very limited therefore it does not have the capacity to offer free parking, making all spaces eligible for payment to help manage the flow of cars.

“When a person receives a blue badge, the handbook states that it does not give motorists any privileges on private property.

“However, many car park operators do give certain allowances — in this case, we allocate the nearest spaces to the centre for disabled vehicles.

“The sign at this car park clearly states that disabled drivers are not exempt from the conditions.

“We would advise all motorists to always check car park signage before leaving their vehicle.” Creative Parking Solutions use CCTV cameras with number plate recognition to monitor non-payers.

Oak Mall management — who controversially allowed car park charging five years ago — say the policy is used elsewhere.

A spokeswoman added: “Unfortunately there is no exemption for disabled or elderly users. This is common policy in private car parks throughout Scotland.

“There will be no further comments regarding this issue.”