Illegal handicapped parkers

It is unlawful for any person who is not handicapped or who is not transporting a handicapped person to exercise the parking privileges granted handicapped persons. -South Carolina law A growing number of hospital workers, downtown merchants and others are using parking placards for the handicapped to cheat the city out of thousands of dollars in parking meter revenue. Worse, these scammers are taking spaces that could be used by people with real disabilities, a Post and Courier Watchdog investigation found. Doctors sign off on placard applications for vague disabilities, such as “high stress.” Young people use their older relatives’ placards on shopping trips downtown, or in one case, for a prime spot next to a West Ashley fitness center. Motorists with blue or red placards for the disabled can park all day in metered and public garage spaces for free, so the abuse is most prevalent in downtown areas where parking spaces are at a premium, especially around the downtown Charleston medical complex, King Street, the College of Charleston and the City Market. It’s a local and nationwide problem. Just last month, investigators at Miami International Airport found that hundreds of able-bodied airport and airline workers regularly use parking spaces for the handicapped, fleecing the airport out of million in fees a year.
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