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Mom Gets Creative When Local Council Delays Giving Her a Handicapped Spot

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All Claire Lomas wanted was a handicapped parking spot at her 4-year-old daughter’s school, but after six months of waiting for the county council to finish the job, her patience ran out. Her solution to the problem? Enlist the help of a friend and paint the spot herself.

 

Lomas was paralyzed from the chest down following a horseback riding accident in 2007, and she uses a manual wheelchair to get around. She first requested the Leicestershire County Council create a spot at the Great Dalby Primary School back in April, and though they agreed, they had yet to do it by the time Lomas’ daughter Maisie attended her first day of classes on Monday.

I had been asking and asking over the summer but nothing had been done,” Lomas told The Mirror. “It was my daughter’s first day at school and it was a big day for her and me, but I had to drop her off with another parent at the bottom of the hill near the school. I wanted to see her in but I couldn’t.”

Lomas then called the council to ask when the parking spot would be painted, and when they replied that a date hadn’t been set, she told them she planned on painting it herself. Lomas and a friend used stencils and spray paint and completed the task in under an hour. Lomas told The Mirror that Maisie picked out the paint colors.

A spokesperson for the Leicestershire County Council told the Mirror that they had apologized for the delay and inconvenience.

Lomas has been active in raising awareness for people with disabilities over the years. In 2012 she walked the London Marathon in a high-tech mobility suit, and according to her website she’s a proud patron of the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation.

Originally published: September 10, 2015
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