Frans van Poppel (85) from Tilburg has been parking his mobility scooter in the gallery of his flat for years. Due to new rules regarding fire safety, this is no longer allowed, but Frans does it anyway. He simply can’t walk to another parking spot, he says. His landlord TBV Wonen thinks differently and is taking him to court.
This Friday must be a strange day for Frans van Poppel. He has never had any trouble with the law, he emphasizes. Yet the 85-year-old now rolls into the Tilburg court with his walker.
Frans must appear before the subdistrict court judge. He has a dispute with his landlord, housing association TBV Wonen from Tilburg. He wants Frans to stop parking his mobility scooter on the gallery of his apartment.
Already tried everything
The decision to start a lawsuit about this seems quite rigorous, but the housing association has ‘really tried everything’, the TBV Wonen lawyer tells the audience. “We have had several conversations with the gentleman. Each time it came to nothing.”
The housing association is concerned with two things: fire safety and keeping the escape route clear. If Frans parks his mobility scooter on the gallery, there would not be enough space for residents to get away in the event of an emergency. But the judge has difficulty with that reasoning. She takes photos of the parked mobility scooter.
“Look. The hallway seems very wide. I see at least 85 centimeters of space next to the mobility scooter,” she says. That is the number of centimeters that must remain free according to the law.
What if a fire breaks out?
TBV Wonen wants to go along with this, but fire safety remains an issue. The judge thinks so too. “A mobility scooter is a fire hazard object according to the law.” TBV adds: “If the battery catches fire, there will be a huge fire in the gallery.”
Frans largely understands it. He just doesn’t like the solution that seems to be available. The solution is for Frans to park his mobility scooter downstairs in a parking space. “But that’s a really long walk,” says a friend who came with Frans. “Walking short distances is still possible, but due to his hip operation, longer distances are difficult.”
Parking indoors
TBV Wonen also has another proposal: he can put his mobility scooter in his home. That should be fine, because Frans is now doing that too. He has two mobility scooters. One is always outside in the gallery and the other is broken and is therefore often inside. What if the mobility scooter on the gallery goes to the parking space below, and the other person stays inside?
“That is much more cumbersome. I don’t have much space inside. But if it has to be done, then it has to be done,” says Frans. And so the matter seems resolved.
The judge will issue an official ruling within two weeks. It will probably state that Frans must pay one hundred euros per day if he parks his mobility scooter on the gallery, with a maximum of three thousand euros.
New rules on fire safety
The government has introduced new rules regarding fire safety and escape routes as of July 1, 2024. In concrete terms, this means that fire-hazard objects are no longer allowed in common areas (such as a gallery or hall). These include, for example, mobility scooters, but also waste or crates.
There must also always be a ‘suitable escape route’, so that everyone can leave the building as quickly as possible in the event of a fire.
The rules are not well received everywhere. For example, people complain that rooms become unpleasant because decoration is prohibited. At the beginning of this year, there was also dissatisfaction in Sint Willebrord about the new parking spaces for mobility scooters.
