A BEREAVED wife has spoken out against parking company Dudrich Holdings, after she asked for a ‘grace period’ while she waited for her late husband’s disability car to be collected.

Christine Choularton reached out to Dudrich Holdings, with the assistance of daughter Lisa, to inform them of her husband Roy’s sudden death on July 22 – requesting that they refrain from ticketing his Motability car which would be collected on August 26 from her home on Eton Place.

But instead of the response she had hoped for, Christine was told she would need to provide the company with a copy of her husband’s death certificate and proof of correspondence with Motability.

Speaking to the Herald, daughter Lisa said: “He had no dealings with Dudrich during his lifetime, we just thought – they have no right to see a death certificate.

“Dad was dreading them imposing these permits, he could not just pay it. He was disabled, and he needed to park close by – he could just about walk out the garden to the car.”

Christine, who had lived on the estate with her late-husband for more than 48 years, added previous owners had allowed them to park outside their property.

She said they would have struggled to pay for the space, as they were both on the state pension.

In a letter to the Herald, Christine said: “In 2010, we asked for a disabled space as my husband needed it as he had a blue badge.

“We were given written permission for this and have had a marked bay since then.”

Christine and her daughter received further emails from Dudrich Holdings on August 4, requesting the death certificate, correspondence and the car’s logbook for proof of ownership.

However, the family were still awaiting the results of a post-mortem, only being able to register the death officially on August 6.

“It has been a very distressing time for me and my family,” Christine continued.

“They have no entitlement to this information and were only told of his death in the first instance out of courtesy.”

The family’s ordeal comes after a community Zoom meeting chaired by Surrey county councillor Stephen Spence garnered the support of more than 30 families across the estate.

The meeting saw talk of a potential action group to be formed with residents of Sandy Hill and other affected areas across the county, as well as a visit from BBC South Today the following day (Friday, August 7).

? The Herald’s request to Dudrich Holdings for a comment was passed on to its managing director, but the firm had not replied as the paper went to press.