The Calgary Airport has been criticized by members of the public after it turned five handicapped parking spaces into Lexus-only spots.
The bizarre decision was first publicized by CBS News after images emerged showing the disabled spots repainted and reserved exclusively for Lexus vehicles. Funnily enough, Lexus Canada says it had no idea about the Calgary Airport Authority’s plans.
After a backlash, Calgary Airport Authority spokesperson Jody Moseley said it sold advertising space to Lexus as a way to investigate “different ways to diversify our revenue stream.” Shortly after, the airport confirmed it would return the spots to disabled parking.
In a statement issued after the situation first came to light, Lexus Canada apologized and asked the airport to correct the blunder.
“Lexus Canada would like to offer our heartfelt apologies to anyone who may have been affected or offended by a recent marketing campaign at the Calgary airport. We were not aware that accessible parking spaces would be used for this campaign, and have asked the airport to correct the situation as quickly as possible by returning these parking spaces to their intended use.”
The airport couldn’t have seriously thought they’d get away this, right?
Calgary airport criticized after converting 5 disabled stalls to Lexus-only parking https://t.co/mAKXRO3jBn pic.twitter.com/mSLAEXDnzh
— CBC News (@CBCNews) August 21, 2017