My wife, who drives our car with her ‘Disabled' label clearly displayed on the windscreen, recently lawfully parked in a disabled park at a shopping centre in Tauranga and went into the store while I stayed in the vehicle. As I dosed I was awoken by an imperious banging on the window to be berated by a self-appointed ‘parking vigilante' for being parked in an area reserved for the disabled. Obviously he had not seen the disabled label. To my mind this was a flagrant piece of elder bullying. I was not amused and I told my tormentor accordingly.

In recent times my wife and I have witnessed several instances of this policing by local people who seem to think they have some God-given right to enforce parking control measures. It is not a wise practice and I would strongly advise people to leave the policing of parking areas to those authorised to control them. If there are problems they should be reported to store management.

From our experience it seems disabled car park bullying is rife in Tauranga and may be part of an organised campaign. If this is the case I would recommend any organisation involved in promoting this activity should review its policy.

B Conroy, Otumoetai (Abridged).