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A city councillor has shamed police after they were caught parking in a disabled bay at the new Cambridge North station.

Cllr Gerri Bird, who is disabled and has championed the rights of disabled people, photographed officers from British Transport Police (BTP) parking in the bay.

The councillor was at the station to catch a train to take part in a Licensing Conference in London as part of her role as chairman of licensing for Cambridge City Council.

She wants to highlight problems faced by the disabled.

Cllr Bird said: “Disabled parking spaces are there for Blue Badge holders and should not be used by anyone else. It wasn’t an emergency situation and they could have parked in the drop off area at the new station rather than use up one of the disabled parking bays.

“I wanted to highlight the everyday problems faced by disabled people and I hope that police take this issue seriously and tell their officers not to do this again.

“In many car parks it’s a parking offence to park in a disabled bay without a valid Blue Badge and the police should be setting a far better example than they did at the new station.”

BTP bosses have now taken action to remind officers not to use disabled bays.

A BTP spokeswoman said: “There are often operational reasons why officers need to park in a disabled space when they are on duty.

“They would, of course, have moved if the space had been needed by a member of the public.

“A message has been sent out to officers reminding them to only park in these spaces as a last resort and when operationally required to do so.”