Jan Ruddock-Guerry … alert. Australia — Jan Ruddock-Guerry can no longer climb up a kerb and walks with great difficulty because of a neurological disorder that is killing the nerves in her lower legs and forearms. The former landscape gardener, who is the sister of the federal Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, has a disabled parking permit but has given up trying to drive into the city. "I am a very badly disabled person and when I go into the city I can never get a disabled car space," she said yesterday. The Herald revealed at the weekend how thousands of Sydneysiders have found ways to get the tags that allow free parking on meters, unlimited parking in one- or two-hour spots, and access to special spaces. Mrs Ruddock-Guerry is so fed up that she has become a sort of vigilante. "I watch them like a hawk," she said, rattling off spots around the city where an inordinate number of cars boast disabled permits: Hospital Road behind Parliament House; O'Connell Street; Harrington Street; Darlinghurst Road; outside the Criminal Court in Oxford Street. The Premier, Morris Iemma, said yesterday the permits were being examined and that abusers should show a "greater deal of respect for the disabled". "We'll be having plenty to say about this issue shortly," Mr Iemma said. Readers responding to the Herald story told of the waiter at a restaurant in The Rocks who says his employer gave him a permit so he would not have to rely on public transport to get home after hours; the able-bodied East Sydney restaurateurs who both have permits that enable them to park for long periods near their restaurant; vendors in weekend markets who use the permits for all-day parking. One reader wrote: "Try Balmain, particularly the spots outside Woolworths in Darling Street. A fairly frequent user is a silver Porsche 911 Turbo … The driver certainly looks sprightly to me." Another suggested that the legal heartland in Phillip Street between the courts and Wentworth Chambers was a "classic area of abuse". Mrs Ruddock-Guerry confronted one young woman as she ran across the road in Bondi Junction, asking: "How can you be using a disabled permit?" The woman said she was a "carer". Mrs Ruddock-Guerry joked that when she was out with her brother she made a beeline for him as he left so she could hitch a ride home in his ministerial car. Their father, Max, who was NSW transport minister in the mid-1970s, suffered from the same crippling disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, which has afflicted Mrs Ruddock-Guerry and her sister. Stephen Gorton, of Woolloomooloo, said he conducted the original research when the State Government introduced the parking permits. Mr Gorton, who is incapacitated from four problematic hip replacements, suggested there should be harsher penalties. Revoking the permit is sometimes the only punishment. He also thought determining eligibility should be taken out of the hands of the "friendly family doctor" and given to an independent assessor. Because of misuse the Roads and Traffic Authority restructured the mobility parking scheme two years ago, introducing photos on the permits. But for privacy reasons the photo is not visible when the tag is displayed. It is on the back of the permit. Source Sydney Morning Herald, 30 January 2006 - Jeni Porter ###