Video – Cobourg Woman Ticketed for Parking Mobility Scooter on Sidewalk

Pete Fisher
11 hours ago
• Categories: Local

A Cobourg woman is dumbfounded after receiving a ticket from by-law for parking her mobility scooter beside a bike rack.

When Linda Grass moved into her apartment on King Street East, just east of Division Street in February 2025 she started parking her mobility scooter, called a GIO All-Season Enclosed Mobility Scooter in the municipal parking lot nearby.

The mobility scooter is similar to an electric wheelchair only it’s enclosed.

But soon, Municipal By-Law officers informed her that because it didn’t have a license plate and wasn’t classified as a vehicle she had to park it elsewhere.

“We are recommending that you would need to explore available parking on private property rather than municipal sources,” stated an e-mail to Grass by Municipal By-Law.

Grass said she then informed a bike area would be appropriate for the mobility scooter.

But a short time later she received another e-mail from a By-Law Officer stating, both scooters had been stationary for an “extended period of time,” and, “are creating a nuisance for pedestrians and Town of Cobourg staff seeking to perform maintenance.”

Grass was told if they weren’t moved she could be fined under the nuisance by-law.

“They said if I didn’t remove them it would be towed away at my expense.”

At the time Grass had two mobility scooters, but since then has sold one of them.

Shortly after the warning, Grass received a fine for parking on the sidewalk with the mobility scooter totaling $175.00. The fine has since gone up to $190.00 due to non-payment.

Grass said she refuses to pay the fine because she’s disabled and it’s a mobility scooter.

“It’s the principal. It’s not a vehicle, it’s a medical device. I put (parked) it where I live because I have mobility issues and now they fined me.”

Grass showed Today’s Northumberland where she parked near the area where she received the ticket on King Street East, which wasn’t impeding pedestrian traffic.

At the time when she was issued the ticket, snow had accumulated along the sidewalk/curb area, but, “all they had to do was explain they had to shovel and I would have gladly moved it temporarily.”

“I’m willing to work with them, but come on, a mobility device. If this can happen to me it can happen to our seniors and every disabled person in the downtown core – it’s not fair.”

At this point, Grass has parked her mobility scooter in the municipal lot on McGill and Queen Streets – for now.

“They told me to share a parking spot. Because she (her friend) has a driver’s license and parking spot (for her car).”

So Grass has her mobility scooter tucked against a fence in front of her friends vehicle.

“Which to me is unfair. We deserve equal access in this town. It’s not our fault we are disabled, it’s not our fault we get older. We’re just finding ways to get around and transport ourselves to get groceries and do what we’ve got to do.”

It seems that the town isn’t willing to budge on their decision for the fine.

“They want to fine me and want me to pay for something that I refuse to pay for because it’s not a vehicle, it’s not a e-bike and it’s not a bicycle – it’s a medical device. And they’re saying I’m getting a nuisance by-law (ticket) for a medical device.”

Grass said she’s a law abiding citizen who has worked at the local LCBO in downtown for 15-years and said she’s not looking for special treatment.

“I just want fairness. I’m disabled, I deserve equality.”