Dunedin Countdown supermarkets trial app for dobbing in mobility park thieves

Monday, 13 May 2019

A new app aims to help mobility park permit holders who have been forgoing their weekly shop because their parking spaces have been stolen by drivers who do not need them.

Countdown stores across Dunedin are trialling the Access Aware app, designed to report the misuse of mobility car parks.

Dozens of people downloaded the app when it was launched on Monday.

Countdown Dunedin South manager Grant McEwan and Raewyn Hailes, of CCS Disability Action, have launched a new app focusing on the use - and misuse - of mobility parks.

Countdown Dunedin South manager Grant McEwen has a daughter who uses a wheelchair so knows how important mobility parks – which are wider to allow for wheelchairs and walking frames – are for those who need them.

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The app allows anyone to send a report, including a photo, to the supermarket's management when they see a mobility park being misused.

If the vehicle does not display the correct permit, the motorist's licence plate will be read out over the supermarket's PA system.

'We don't want to cause embarrassment or offence, we just want to explain the situation,' McEwen said.

He did not think the company would lose business over the move.

'I don't think there are that many people abusing this to want to change stores.'

Raewyn Hailes, of CCS Disability Action, said the organisation had worked on the project with Countdown for more than a year.

Staff in some areas could be 'abused quite heavily' when they reminded motorists not to park in mobility spaces without the proper permit, she said.

She was aware some disabled motorists abandoned plans to do their weekly shop when they were not able to find a mobility park.

'Sometimes people are not able to move for a greater distance and they will not be able to do their shopping if they can't get close to the entrance to the store, and sometimes they go home as that might be their only opportunity to get their groceries for a week.

'So it is really important to make the parks available for those who need them.'

CCS Disability Action chief executive David Matthews said the organisation was delighted Countdown was the country's first supermarket chain to test the Access Aware app.

'Feedback from our 150,000 mobility parking permit holders would indicate that supermarkets and other retailers are some of the most misused mobility car parks in the country, causing immense frustration and stopping people going about their daily lives.'

The Dunedin trial will be for three months and the scheme may then be expanded to other stores.