PARKING wardens could be employed in Barnoldswick next year to prevent able-bodied people using disabled spaces.

The move comes after Steve and Frances Allen, of Gisburn Street, organised a petition earlier this year to defend disabled drivers' rights to use the spaces.

The petition, with 465 signatures, was handed to Pendle Council asking them to enforce the regulations in council car parks.

Both Steve, 49, and Frances, 41, have blue disabled parking badges.

But the couple, who have a foster daughter, say they are frequently unable to access facilities in the town centre because they cannot park near where they want to go when disabled bays are blocked by non-disabled drivers.

A report to members of Pendle Council's West Craven committee states that: "The highways, engineering and design service manager has explained to the petitioners that when decriminalisation of parking bays is implemented in July 2004, all enforcement of on and off-street disabled bays will pass to the local authority."

The report adds that enforcement of off-street bays is not currently undertaken because no parking wardens are employed in the West Craven area.

But it says: "The committee has recently agreed to introduce short-stay parking using the disc system in Wellhouse Road, Station Road and Jepp Hill car parks, and the income derived from fines issued on these car parks after July 2004 will contribute to the cost of employing wardens."

Frances, a wheelchair user, said: "I try not to use my chair and I walk with either two crutches or a Zimmer frame. There are times we have set off to go into town but ended up just turning round because we can't park in the disabled bays.

"We are just trying to get something that's actually our right.

"I don't think most people who abuse the disabled parking spaces do it maliciously, but they just don't think about the consequences for people like us."