They are sometimes the best parking spots. Spaces that require a special license plate or parking placard intended to make parking easier for those who are disabled.
But as Julia Rotert discovered, there are people in the metro illegally trading the passes for cash.
“It kind of stopped me in my tracks, to be honest. I was completely baffled by this,” the Gladstone mother of two told 41 Action News.
Sunday night, Rotert was scrolling on Facebook when she discovered a woman illegally selling disabled parking placards for $45.
“To me, this was very personal,” she said.
Rotert’s one-year-old daughter is disabled. She cannot support her own body weight and most likely will need to rely on a wheelchair or walker for the rest of her life.
"This is not just a convenience thing. This is not something that anyone wants,” Rotert said.
In order to obtain a permanent or temporary disabled parking placard in both Missouri and Kansas, you need to go to the DMV and fill out a form as well as submit a signed doctor’s note. According to the state of Missouri, it is illegal to obtain a placard any other way.
41 Action News knocked on the seller’s last known address but no one answered the door.
We did speak to a man who responded to the ad, offering to buy the placard for $30. We are not identifying him because he was never charged with a crime.
Over the phone, he told 41 Action News he never intended to buy the parking pass.
"I was just trying to converse with her, that’s what it was,” he said.
If you see a person misusing a placard or selling one, you can report it to the DMV or local police department.
