A disabled driver has slammed Glasgow City Council for allowing film crews to take over much-needed parking bays.
Piers Doughty-Brown was left searching for somewhere to park after travelling into the city centre to visit a cafe.
After being advised that he couldn't park on Renfield Street, he went to try alternative parking on West Nile Street and Mitchell Street - where all bays were coned off to facilitate filming crews.
He told Glasgow Live: "As is my routine, I went to have coffee at the Gordon Street Café, which I do most days so as to have time away from home.
"Such excursions are important for my mental welfare, you’re aware of the multitude of issues I deal with as a disabled man.
"My alternative parking is on West Nile Street which offers around 7 disabled spaces or Mitchell St which also offers disabled parking. Today all the available disabled parking spaces on West Nile and Mitchell Street were coned off to facilitate the film crews. If memory serves me correctly St Vincent Street parking was also suspended for filming.
"One space on Mitchell Street was occupied by a large Portaloo, called the “Honeywagonco Luxury Loo”.
"Consider the message this gave me, as a disabled driver seeking a parking space?
"The only feasible parking spaces were those on Queen Street, getting on for half a mile away, which given my disabilities required a huge effort to get to the café."
Batgirl filming is currently ongoing in the city, with crews currently working in the Merchant City and George Square.
The entire HBO Max production is being shot in the city thanks to a £150,000 incentive grant from the council.
The local authority said it 'asks' that productions look to use off-street parking areas or areas away from marked disabled bays but as the roads are managed by a local roads authority, there is 'legislative right to restrict their use for various reasons'.
A spokesperson said that "the council will explore every other parking option before it agrees to suspend disabled bays - however, there are situations that the suspension of disabled bays are required for the safety of other road users.
"In the case of filming, it was due to filming stunt scenes as well as street dressing."
Piers believes the council has failed to consider the disabled when deciding whether to allow film productions to use the city.
He added: "To suddenly find disabled parking suspended around your destination causes great grief and inconvenience.
"Glasgow City Council fails in considering the disabled when it accommodates the likes of filmmakers, it seems the revenue gain far outweighs their duty to its disabled population and I for one would like to hear how they will avoid such discrimination going forward."
A council spokesperson said: "Signs are erected in the area to be restricted to advise that bays are going to be restricted and these tend to be erected one week in advance of the required restriction date."
We previously reported how Merchant City residents were shocked to discover that their cars had been moved to accommodate filming.
Residents of Ingram Street were left scrambling to try to find their cars only to discover they had been dumped streets away and given a parking ticket.
