A SOLDIER seriously injured after he was blown up in Afghanistan was slapped with a ticket for parking in a disabled bay in Poole.

Corporal Graeme Billington, from Canford Heath, was lucky to survive a roadside bomb blast while serving with 2 Royal Tank Regiment in January.

The 28-year-old suffered serious injuries, including two breaks in each leg, a shattered ankle, crushed arm, collapsed lung, perforated lung, a broken breast bone and four fractures in his shoulder.

He spent a month in hospital and may still lose his right leg because of the extent of the damage.

But when he and his girlfriend used a disabled bay so they could get Graeme’s wheelchair alongside the car they were slapped with a £60 fine which Borough of Poole refused to overturn, even after they provided proof of his injuries, and a copy of the blue badge he received days later.

It was only overruled after the family contacted the Echo.

Now the council has apologised for causing Mr Billington additional stress.

The ticket was issued at a multi-storey car park on February 14 while Graeme was home from hospital for a few days before going on to the forces’ rehabilitation centre Headley Court on February 15.

Nicola, 26, said: “I completely understand why we got a ticket – we didn’t have a blue badge on show as we didn’t have one yet.

“But after we contacted them and showed them all the medical notes, they still said ‘No, you have to pay’. We couldn’t believe it.”

Graeme added: “If they aren’t exceptional circumstances, what are? I was just gutted.

“I’m not bothered about the money, but after what’s happened you’d like to think they’d help you out – but apparently not.”

Jason Benjamin, parking services manager at the Borough of Poole, said council procedures did allow for tickets to be overturned in “exceptional circumstances”

He added: “However, in this instance we did not initially deal with this in the way that we should.

“When this matter was brought to my attention, the ticket was cancelled immediately.

“We have apologised to Mr Billington for the stress which this incident has caused, and reinforced to our staff the need to apply our appeals procedure appropriately to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Borough of Poole Cllr Les Burden, member of the transport advisory group, said: “The welfare of anyone who has been injured serving in Afghanistan like this is our main concern. It was important to resolve this.

“We must be careful in our treatment of people who are less fortunate than us.”