An agoraphobic learning technologist at Leeds Beckett University claimed disability discrimination after being denied a parking permit she had let lapse two years earlier, despite only needing to attend campus a handful of times a year. Amanda Barrow argued it was unreasonable to expect her to give up onsite parking she had held for 36 years, but an employment tribunal in Sheffield dismissed her claims, finding the university had made reasonable ad hoc arrangements, and ordered her to pay £20,000 in costs.

Barrow, who had worked at the university (formerly Leeds Polytechnic) since 1984, moved to mostly home-based work in 2013 and, following the Covid pandemic, was only required on site four or five times a year. Her last annual parking permit lapsed in March 2020 and she never renewed it, later declining to apply for a blue badge. Although a request for a one-off space in 2023 was granted and the university offered her extended two-week advance booking, a subsequent request in 2024 was initially refused due to full capacity before being accommodated; she went on sick leave and resigned in May 2024 before pursuing the tribunal claim, which Employment Judge Andrew James rejected.