Disabled shoppers at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre are furious after developer British Land painted over their parking bays.
Elderly people with painful conditions have been forced to walk long distances with heavy bags because roughly half their bays have been removed.
Esther Matthews, 70, was “flabbergasted” when she arrived to find the yellow disabled paint had been scraped away and replaced with standard bays.
The grandmother and retired ambulance controller, whose arthritis confines her to an electric scooter, said: “At first I couldn’t believe it when they took it all away.
“Several other disabled people were there asking ‘what are we supposed to do?’. It’s a big car park with lots of normal spaces so why they’d have to give up the disabled bays is beyond me. I think it’s disgusting!”
Shoppers with mobility problems are now limited to just nine parking bays in a car park with up to 650 spaces.
This includes just five spaces outside the Range and four near the entrance. Previously, there were approximately twenty spaces in total.
Maureen Chandler, in her 70s, from Lewisham, also suffers from arthritis. She said: “They’ve scraped off all the disabled paint and haven’t replaced it!
“We do struggle to find a space because sometimes it’s busy. A lot of disabled people come in the morning and if you come then they’re all gone. If you’re in a wheelchair, you need the extra space.”
As well as offering more room for wheelchair users, disabled bays are placed conveniently close to amenities.
Carol Wilson, 63, from Battersea, uses a stick to walk. She said: “We’ve struggled to find a space. Every time you come here you struggle.
“The shopping centre is a nice community space and there’s not enough community space so we shouldn’t have to struggle.”
British Land, which owns the shopping centre, said it had reduced the overall area of the car park which had reduced the number of disabled spaces.
It apologised for the “oversight” and has said the disabled bays will be restored next week beginning Monday, October 17.
A representative for British Land said: “Due to sequencing of the shopping centre car park works that are currently underway, including TfL’s delivery of a new, step-free entrance hall to Surrey Quays Station (which begins construction next year) and the delivery of works to the north of the Shopping Centre, we have reduced the overall area of the shopping centre car park, meaning there have been a significantly reduced number of disabled spaces. This was an oversight for which we apologise.
“We have worked to rectify this and the disabled bays available at the entrance to the shopping centre are planned to open early next week. We have, in the meantime, temporarily re-opened the area next to The Range. The changes underway to the layout and circulation of the car park are being made to optimise the number of overall spaces, disabled spaces, and pedestrian areas across the whole of the new area.”