A DISABLED Winyates woman has hit out at 'moaning' shoppers who complained about the increase of disabled parking spaces in the Kingfisher Centre.

Margaret Southam said the complaints had 'made her blood boil'.

More parking facilities for disabled people were created at the shopping centre to meet the requirements of a new law which came into effect this month.

It required a minimum of six per cent disabled parking spaces which should be near to the lift or have level access to the centre.

But the Advertiser reported Kingfisher Centre manager Ian McLelland had received scores of complaints from able-bodied shoppers and those with children who had to walk or drive further.

Mrs Southam, of Sutton Close, said she was deeply angered by complaints from able-bodied people, who she said had no idea of the difficulties faced by disabled shoppers.

"People should put themselves in our shoes and see how difficult life is and how slow and painful it is to walk a distance that most people wouldn't even notice," she said.

"I'm unable to leave my house unless I'm accompanied by my family and even then, I'm mostly confined to the car because I can't get to the shops they need to visit."

Mrs Southam, once a keen tenpin bowler who loved the outdoors, now relies on a motorised scooter to get around after damaging her hip last March when she fell down an unguarded hole near Birmingham's Bull Ring.

After a spell in hospital in Redditch, she is still receiving rehabilitation and said the fall had left a legacy of health problems, including high blood pressure and a fear of confined spaces.

Before the incident, she said her mobility was limited as a result of arthritis but she still regarded herself as able-bodied and would leave disabled spaces free for those who were more needy.

She added: "I'm often unable to park in the Kingfisher Centre because someone without a disabled sticker has taken the parking space and it made my blood boil to read about complaints that there are too many disabled spaces.

"We are human just like anyone else but it makes me feel people don't want disabled people to get out and about."