Whilst I'm not excusing Natalie for parking in a disabled bay there are a couple of other possible factors to consider.

I believe that this disabled bay was in the car park of the hotel where the contestants stay when the show is being performed. It is quite possible that as a regular user of the hotel, Natalie may have been given permission to use the disabled bays for unloading her vehicle, as it appears that she had luggage with her.

There is only an allegation from a "source" that she had parked there for around three hours and my inclination is always to assume that information coming from a Daily Mail "source" is likely to be complete b@llocks anyway.

Who knows, maybe Natalie told the hotel staff that she was being stalked by a creepy weirdo with a camera, and they may have advised her to park close to the entrance in order to avoid him.

If of course this is not the case, I would hope that she heeds the criticism and does not use one of these bays in future.

My exact thought.

Re previous comments on thread:

Doesn't every person staying at a hotel have luggage with them? If any hotel allowed someone to use a disabled parking bay without good reason it would suggest that they are just playing lip service to the concept of disabled access.

As for when the event happened, the article says Saturday.

I can't believe the reporter would not have checked whether she had a disabled person with her.

Sorry, but it doesn't look good to me.

Well they wouldn't because a lot of people in this forum doesn't like them, especially Kristina. Natalie got the benefit of the doubt (going by quite a few of the responses ).

It seems like when someone is " more likable ", some people tend to be more "
forgiving ".

Sorry, I meant temporarily - not for the duration of her stay. Lots of places will allow you to unload your car for a few minutes whilst you check in and then you move your car to a standard bay.

I have no idea of the sequence of events or the time-scale involved but if the Daily Mail reported that the sky was blue... I'd still look up - just to check!

One of the pics definitely gives this credence - her expression says it all
Looks like he was crawling through a hedge to take it!

It looks like a private car park for some flats so your husband would probably be not allowed to park there even with a disabled sticker. If it is a private car park then no laws have been broken.

As I wrote the owners or operators of the car park could have given her (and others) permission to use the bay if it was not being used by any disabled people. Or residents use the bays because they know there are no residents with disabled permits - all quite legal.

I sounds to me as if someone living near her has a bit of a chip on their shoulder or just greedy and tipped off a paparazzi (for money of course). The pictures are in a couple of tabloids - both very anti-BBC.

It was a hotel car park.

If it is a private car parks (as seems very likely) then that disabled person would probably be not allowed to park there anyway.

I think I have used one of the disabled bays outside a hotel entrance when loading in the morning and hardly anyone around. If there are still empty bays and the reception knows what you are doing then what is the problem with that?

Sorry ? A disabled person would not be allowed park in a disabled bay ?

Someone would have started a petition if it was one of the Cliftons!

Same applies, no law broken and the hotel would know if any disabled guests - I have been given "disabled rooms" quite often (they are great because near the door on the ground floor!).

Not if it was a designated space for a private resident.

It isn't the case in this instance but in some residential developments there are disabled bays but only for the use of residents. Visitors would have to use a visitor parking space if those are provided.

Yes, I was only pointing out that it was a hotel and not a residential development as you had first posted. We might both have posted around the same time, so I thought you may not have seen that I had already said that it was a hotel and that perhaps at the hotel's discretion, she had been allowed to use the bay.

Interestingly, the DM has also published another similar story today...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...-000-fine.html

This time it is Katie Price who allegedly used the blue badge parking permit issued to her son Harvey, when she went to a tanning studio last Thursday. Harvey was not with her at the time. In this instance though, they made sure to get a nice close-up shot of the permit after she had set her arrival time on it and placed it on her dashboard.

Great humour!

I cannot see anywhere in either article where it mentions a hotel. It does mention she was attending a gym which looking at her attire rings true. She also returns to the car with a Starbucks. So it would seem to me that the car park is a mixed use retail park which has shops as well as leisure businesses (which could possibly also include a hotel)

Or Ola and Kristina.

Just to play devil's advocate here if she was on her way to a pro rehersal she'd been dressed like you might be to go to a gym.

It doesn't say it in the article but if you care to check on Google Earth for the Village Hotel in Watford and compare the images, I think you'll find that this is where these photographs of her were taken. There is a Starbucks in the hotel.

It is possible that the car park is shared with other commercial premises, but this is definitely where she was.

Not true I'd defend either of these two especially Kris whom the tabs seem to have it in for and who apart from possibly her chequered love life comes across as a basically nice lady too. I'd have a hard time she's willfully park in a disabled bay either.

I think that type of misuse is quite common, often use the excuse that they are collecting something on behalf of the holder of the disabled badge.

Still private property so the notice is only advisory I would think.

Yeah, I'd imagine Harvey has a lot of use for a bottle of Fake Bake!