Widower fined for handicapped parking tag

MONTREAL, July 15 (UPI) -- An 83-year-old disabled man in Montreal, Canada, was fined $438 for parking in a designated handicapped space using his deceased wife's permit.

Rinaldo Calce, who has a pacemaker and therefore is eligible for a province of Quebec-issued permit, was ticketed July 6 by a police officer.

Calce told The Gazette newspaper the officer said almost nothing as he checked his license against the handicapped permit. He said he told the officer his wife had died last August but the policeman told him permits are issued for specific people and not vehicles. He charged Calce with "fraudulent use of a document," The Gazette said.

Calce said after the policeman was finished with him, another elderly man with an oxygen tank parked beside him was also given a $438 ticket for using his deceased wife's permit.

Calce told the newspaper he doesn't intend to fight the ticket and will return his wife's permit and apply for his own.

"If by telling my story I can help just one person, then that would be nice," he told The Gazette.