A disabled woman has been labelled a ‘Karen’ following a parking row at an Oxfordshire hotel.
Frances Union, originally from the United States, has been staying in the Premier Inn on Oxford Road since Friday, February 23, after asbestos was found at her home.
She suffers from severe osteoarthritis and uses a mobility scooter in her everyday life meaning she requires a Blue Badge parking space.
Problems started to occur for Ms Union as other drivers began parking in the disabled spaces despite them not holding a Blue Badge.
The 53-year-old responded by leaving notes on the windshields of the offending cars, but has now received a note in response labelling her a ‘Karen’.
The anonymous note left on Frances’ windscreen in a brown envelope said: “You can’t park there Karen!
“Thanks for the note Karen and Odd Bob, I promise I’m not auditioning for the role of parking police.
“Firstly I have a job working to pay your benefits, house, dinner, alcohol and two cars whilst many have to walk to work.
“Yes us ‘normal people’ are good-hearted, kind and caring and just park in any space trying to navigate this crazy world ‘Premier Inn’ of hotel Blue Badge parking! Give us a honk!”
The term ‘Karen’ is widely defined as someone who is perceived as entitled or excessively demanding beyond what is considered to be normal behaviour and often demands to speak to the manager.
“I'm lost for words and feel like Premier Inn has treated me as a second-class citizen. They are disrespecting blue badge users everywhere,” remarked Frances.
“Only this morning I had to ring yet another company to get them to get their engineer to move his van from a disabled bay.”
Frances has now left the hotel and the leading brand has announced changes will be implemented at the site.
A spokesperson for Premier Inn said: “Following a successful trial at ten of our hotels, we’re implementing an improved method of managing Blue Badge parking bays, which is in the process of being rolled out at all of our hotels.
“With assistance from our suppliers, we’re introducing new processes including new hotel and restaurant Blue Badge information stickers and a new process of escalation at sites to enable teams to better report abuse.
“We’re sorry for the issue Frances encountered and have arranged for the company which manages our car park to carry out some extra controls to help ensure compliance.
“We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind people who park in a disabled bay that they must have a Blue Badge clearly displayed.”
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