AN MOTHER of a disabled Ipswich girl has told of her outrage that lifts in an Ipswich car park were closed due to a bank holiday - forcing them to use the exit ramps used by cars.

AN MOTHER of a disabled Ipswich girl has told of her outrage that lifts in an Ipswich car park were closed due to a bank holiday - forcing them to use the exit ramps used by cars.

Treena Woods took her four-year-old daughter Bethany into Ipswich town centre on Monday and parked in the multi-storey car park, in Charles Street, where there were no signs to say the lifts were closed.

Bethany suffers from a rare type of muscular dystrophy and relies on a wheelchair to get around.

However because the lifts were closed, the family had to wheel Bethany down the ramps which cars drive down to exit the car park.

Mrs Woods, of Cecil Road, said: “I was disgusted. There was no warning that we could not use the lifts at all.

“The first thing we knew about it we had already unpacked everyone from the car and headed to where the lifts are.

“We were fortunate enough to have got into town early and parked on the third floor or we would have had to put our lives at risk for longer as we went down more floors.

“There is advice in the car park to tell you not to walk down the ramps but what other choice did we have?

“We were lucky Bethany was in her manual wheelchair because if she was in her electric one, we would not have got her through the barrier at the bottom.”

When the family got home Mrs Woods phoned the council to find out why the lifts had been closed.

She said: “I was informed that they had been closed because the car park was not being manned by people due to the bank holiday.

“If we can't have access to the lifts then they should not have opened the car park at all -or at least we should have been told before we drove in and parked.

“There were loads of parents who were struggling with buggies up and down the stairs just so someone could have a day off.”

A council spokesman said: “We are sorry Mrs Woods feels let down because providing access for everyone is one of our top priorities.

“We did advertise in The Star and elsewhere that the lifts would be closed and there are disabled car parking bays available in that car park on the ground floor level.

“There are also disabled parking bays available in our level surface car parks in the town.”

Have you had problems finding a disabled parking space? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk