The ACT government will assess the disability parking at Canberra International Sports and Aquatic Centre following concerns raised by a man who feels he's been treated as a second class citizen.
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Alistair Nitz, who was left in a wheelchair after suffering a fractured vertebra in an accident, regularly struggles to find a free car space when he visits the Belconnen centre for his twice-weekly hydrotherapy sessions.
"On most of these occasions the car park is full or I have seen cars with disability parked in other car parks because they can't get to a disability park," Mr Nitz said.
"Usually we have to park far away which is challenging and dangerous for me. Other times my wife drops me off while she circles the car park looking for a space."
When Mr Nitz approached CISAC with his concerns, he was told the centre is in line with the legal requirements of providing one disability spot for every 50 spots.
Four of the roughly 220 sealed car spots at CISAC are disability spaces.
However, a spokesman for the ACT government agency, Access Canberra, said private car park owners must follow the Parking and Vehicular Access General code in the Territory Plan, which requires disability parks to make up a minimum of three per cent of spaces.
This would require CISAC to have six to seven spots, and likely more because the general plan requires additional spots for car parks that serve health, ageing or disability facilities.
But the code was only enforced as of October 2014, and the spokesman said the rates of parking for people with disabilities in older car parks would have had to comply with standards at the time of construction, which can very.
He said the government would assess if the number of car spaces at CISAC was done according to its development approval at the time.
When the Canberra Times asked what responsibility the government has to address concerns raised by people with a disability about privately owned car parks, the spokesman said they could "raise the extent of disabled car parks with management and if there is any need to extend any disabled spaces".
They did not clarify what they meant by "need".
But when Mr Nitz approached the office of ACT Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris about his concern, he was told he should direct his complaint to CISAC management as private carparks were outside of the government's responsibilities.
Emails obtained by the Canberra Times showed that when Mr Nitz did that, management offered to convert three spots along the side parking of the childcare that is next to the entrance to the hydrotherapy pool.
But Mr Nitz said that would not provide safe and easy access for people with disabilities.
"You would have to walk all the way from the side to the front and a main reason why someone has a disability pass is because they have a mobility aid or can't walk 100 metres, so it would be unacceptable," he said.
"And if someone has crutches or a walking stick there is not a proper walkway which leads from the side to the pool entrance."
In an emailed response, the carpark owner said there was no other easy spot to put more disability spaces without losing additional spots as the new style of disability spaces took up two spots for every disabled car.
"It makes me feel like a second class citizen," Mr Nitz said.
"Just a couple of weeks ago myself and another customer who were both in wheelchairs and another person who was a stroke victim couldn't get car parks. But the government has blown me off and management isn't offering appropriate solutions."
A spokesperson for CISAC management did not comment on whether they had enough disability parks to meet demand.
They said they were working with the car park owner, which they said was an external company, had "received the feedback" and were working on a master plan to improve all parking at the site, including disability parking.
