No one answer to store parking
Liz Bailey's letter (Mailbox, September 12) asking that the parent and toddler spaces nearest to Fosse Park Sainsbury's front door be turned into disabled spaces was interesting.
As a grandma, but also someone who transports the mobility scooter I need in my car, I find myself seeing both sides of this argument.
Yes, while parents and most of the kids can walk, adults handling one or often more small children in a car park can need eyes in the back of their head and more than one set of hands, especially when you factor in unloading pushchairs and so on. The closer to the safety of the store, the better.
At the same time, unloading a mobility scooter requires extra space within the bay and is safest when done with as little car park to cross as possible, as scooters, wheelchairs and moving vehicles can find it difficult to see each other due to different heights and speeds.
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I don't think there is a cut-and-dried safety or equalities case for one or the other and it is relevant that once on their mobility scooter, distance alone is not such a barrier to the disabled rider.
Ideally, a big store will provide enough priority spaces, of various sizes, to meet needs close by – maybe even a drop-off and pick-up disabled bay, enabling some people for whom distance really is a barrier to enter the store easily while their driver parks further away?
Even disabled spaces need to vary. My scooter unloads by hoist to the rear, my friend's wheelchair unloads by hoist off his roof and needs space alongside his driver's door for him to transfer into it.
I need space at the back, he needs it to the side – there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
I know Liz Bailey may disagree with some or all of this, but I hope we would agree store designers really need to consider these factors in detail when laying out car parks and buildings.
There are plenty of organisations which could advise them of the needs of disabled people and young families.
Helena Edwards, Birstall.
I note Sir Peter Soulsby's comments in Thursday's Mercury about working to harness the dig for King Richard III for the benefit of the city.
The whole dig confirms the importance of this part of the city as a heritage quarter, whereas elsewhere much of what "made" Leicester has been lost.
As a counterpoint to the excitement created by the dig, Jewry Wall Museum is crying out for revamping and investment.
If ever there was an opportunity to create a proper museum of Leicester, this is it.
Andrew Jeffreys, Rothley.
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