{"id":735143,"date":"2026-02-01T12:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T12:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/735143\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T12:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T12:04:13","slug":"my-life-went-downhill-while-i-was-playing-darts-now-i-struggle-to-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/735143\/","title":{"rendered":"My life went downhill while I was playing darts – now I struggle to walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allan Young described his experience as “disgusting”\"Allan<\/p>\n

Allan Young at his home in West Derby(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

A man whose life took a drastic turn two years ago says he has been let down by his former employers. Allan Young, 76, from West Derby<\/a>, has arthritis, asthma, diabetes and vertigo.<\/p>\n

Allan was already finding it a struggle to get around<\/a>, but two years ago his condition <\/a>worsened severely when he had a mini-stroke. He now has a walking stick and decided to apply <\/a>for a Blue Badge around four months ago so he could park closer to the shops.<\/p>\n

However, he is still waiting to receive it<\/a> and is angry at Liverpool City Council<\/a>, who he used to work for, about the wait. When contacted by the ECHO<\/a>, the council revealed a \u201csmall number\u201d of Blue Badge applications were affected by a technical issue, which has now been resolved.<\/p>\n

Allan claims that, since he applied for a Blue Badge, all he has been told is that his application is \u201cstill being processed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Explaining why he applied, Allan said: \u201cI’m arthritic, diabetic, asthmatic and have vertigo. The DVLA have been informed of all my ailments, as have my insurance company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s slowly getting worse. I had a mini-stroke two years ago. My right side went dead, completely dead. I was in a darts match and was next up. I had to go outside and phone an ambulance.<\/p>\n

\"Allan<\/p>\n

Allan has applied for a Blue Badge(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

\u201cI walk with a stick now. Because of the vertigo, I’ve fallen out of bed twice in the past week. I’ve fallen in the street once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allan initially thought the Blue Badge application would be straightforward. He said: \u201cWhen I applied at the One Stop Shop, I was told there would be no problem with the Blue Badge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I phoned up a week later, I was told by a man it will take at least 12 weeks (to get it). It has now been 17 weeks at least. I\u2019m still waiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t acknowledged the application. I\u2019ve phoned them about five times and each time I get fobbed off. I just got told it\u2019s still being processed. I\u2019m just fed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allan now feels let down by the council. He said: \u201cIt feels like my 26 years of service to Liverpool City Council was a waste of time. I worked as a senior officer and principal officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s disgusting that you wait so long for something that can help you. When I go to the shops, I won\u2019t use the blue badge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been law abiding. I\u2019m just fed up with it. I think they are waiting for me to die so they don\u2019t have to give me it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the ECHO contacted the council with Allan’s claims, a spokesperson said: \u201cWe are aware that a small number of Blue Badge applications submitted in late August were affected by a technical issue that prevented them from entering our assessment queue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue has now been identified and resolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise how important the Blue Badge scheme is to residents, and we are committed to providing a timely and supportive service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to monitor our systems and processes to ensure applications progress as smoothly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Allan Young described his experience as “disgusting” Allan Young at his home in West Derby(Image: Liverpool Echo) A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,347,27854,393,4884,179,14487,38296,16,15,14589],"class_list":{"0":"post-735143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-disability","10":"tag-disability-rights","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-liverpool-council","15":"tag-old-swan","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-west-derby"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115995283742230493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}