To think there is not enough disabled bays for how many badge users there are

The blue badge spaces should be next to the entrance/exit and numerous. On the road parking should have more blue areas. The poster who mentioned hospital parking as well is right - there need to be more spaces. The able bodied can park further away and walk and this includes family parking.

I think it’s less about closeness and more about accessibility. Parent and child spaces tend to be close because of the dangers of trying to traverse a large car park while corralling small children who might run off and are hard to spot by reversing cars. But blue badge spaces should have a clear, flat and unobstructed path to the door. In my supermarket they’re along two sides of a central, wide walkway leading to a zebra crossing, so that although some of the spaces are quite far from the entrance you have a direct route there.

I also think blue badge holders should feel free to use parent and child spaces if they’re what’s available or if they’re more suitable for another reason (like proximity).

It annoys me when parent and child bays are closer to the door than disabled. DH could manage a few steps...but not down the side and round the building. It renders them useless.

YANBU - I hadn’t realised that blue badge users had increased to that extent, but it makes sense that it’s having a knock on effect on space availability. I suppose it varies regionally as there always seem to be loads of blue badge spaces at my supermarket (which is a very good thing!) but I imagine in other areas it’s much more limited.

Its the kind of thing you could consider writing to your MP about. They could advise you on who makes decisions about mandatory minimums for blue badge spaces etc. It may be that a policy needs to change to account for the large increase in blue badge holders.

oh yes. its awful. I am actually glad that we are getting a new WAV will a smaller ramp. I hate unloading her and just praying drivers see the ramp.

It’d be useful to have some BB spaces further away, but with wide gaps between them, and next to a walk way.
That way the people who need to be closer to shops can use the current ones , and people (like us) who just need a lot more room and direct access to a path can park a little further away.

isn’t going to impact anything

I* don't think you read that PP's post properly...how would them being temporarily in a disabled space whilst there are other available spaces impact on your DS getting a space?*

NO! You've read it wrong and so will also be part of the problem.
It's not hard or different to understand ir comprehend that even by sitting in a space that's empty you may be making life harder for someone who is disabled.

For example they may be single hatched spaces. So we need to wide space ds side. There may be 10 spaces of only which 5 are suitable.
If someone thinks they aren't making life harder for ds by being in the nearer of the 5 spaces for just a few minutes they aren't listening to what's been said clearly by disabled people for years.

They aren't empathising. They are thinking they know better.

No blue badge. DO NOT PARK THERE. it's easy. If you cannot comprehend such a simple thing then you don't have the right level of intelligence to be behind the wheel of a car.

It's not the impact on getting a space. It's the fact that someone who needs a space and could have the space to make their already barrier faces life easier cannot because someone who doesn't need the space but wants it for convenient in is it.

Don't be part of the problem by failing to comprehend this. Be part of the solution. My DS friends go nuts at their parents using the spaces for drop offs. They get it as teens.

I feel like it's not a lack of bays that are the issue - it's people abusing them who don't need them (same with parent and child spaces). I've seen a lot of people park in disabled spaces without displaying a badge (some may have forgot them I guess but surely not all of them?) and with the parent and child spaces I've seen far too many people without kids use those. Or I know people who have kids, who won't even be in the car with them, who use the spaces because they think that they're entitled to them? Weird behaviour.

I get that, but for example, if you park at a supermarket, if you’re caught out with urgency to use a toilet, you’re in the supermarket,with a toilet in there, to go and use. I wouldn’t imagine you rushing to get back to your car quickly is a better option than using the in store toilet? I would imagine the extra two minute walk into the supermarket from your car, as opposed to parking directly outside, is going to impact anything? Access to a toilet is more important I would think than access to your car?

Both me and dh Have our own blue badges , I used to drive but don't anymore but have kept my car in the hope I will be able to one day . Dh has his own plus also drives mine .
We nearly always struggle to find a space especially in shop car parks .

I’ve noticed that the out of town supermarkets/shopping centres have plenty of blue badge spaces and are never full. Our big Sainsbury’s has a 2 storey carpark and about a third of the ground floor is blue badge spaces. Whenever I’ve been in there, it’s never more than half full.

However, blue badge parking in town doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

There’s a huge park and ride carpark with loads of BB spaces - which are never full. The long stay carpark which is slightly out of town has lots of BB spaces which are also never full. The pay and display carparks/on street blue badge parking spaces actually in the town centre are always full. The biggest p&d carpark in town only has 4 bb spaces. There are only 2 bb spaces in the on-street parking in the high street and are always full. It would make more sense to up the BB parking in town, and reduce the spaces out of town. I suppose the council can claim they’re fulfilling the required disabled parking spaces, but it doesn’t seem to work for those needing to use it.

Eh? Lots of people can’t drive due to their disabilities….they still have a blue badge tho and use the spaces

YABU. I’m sick of seeing rows of empty disabled bays in otherwise full car parks.

I have seen a few people mention P and C spaces and making the normal comparisons.

can I just clarify they aren’t the same.

P and C spaces are a curtesy normally provided by shops which are handy if you can get one but not an issue if you can’t. Many places don’t have P and C and parents still manage.

Disabled spaces are legally required and that’s because without them many people with disabilities are unable to go out and access the world at all. They need those spaces.

You clearly have no idea about bowel / bladder issues. It isn’t just about being able to be near a toilet by parking nearer to shops (although this is part of it) it’s also about not having to suffer the indignity of shitting or peeing yourself in public without being able to get back to your car quickly- not to mention the sudden pain and discomfort often associated with bowel and bladder conditions which can often mean you have to suddenly completely abandon an outing half way through and limp back to your car. I have these types of issues and it’s awful.

I was at tesco the other day and there where about 30 disabled bays. Only one was used. I think it depends on the area.

Got to say that's not been my experience. When I take MiL (wheelchair user) places I find it about 100 times easier to find a parking space with a blue badge than I normally do without.

I disagree. Absolutely dozens of often unused disabled spaces at my local town and shopping centres. I view them as spaces for the physically disabled to be able to get in and out of vehicles safely, with minimum distance into the shop or supermarket. Whilst other hidden disabilities shouldn’t need these spaces, unless there are no other spaces. Someone with bowel issues isn’t going to be advantaged with a space next to the shop, as shops generally don’t have toilet facilities unless cafe etc. it’s just a case of people with the hidden disabilities also being conscious that others are a lot more in need of these spaces than they are, and therefore to use as appropriate.

I don't think you read that PP's post properly...how would them being temporarily in a disabled space whilst there are other available spaces impact on your DS getting a space? In this imagined scenario there are other available bays for DS anyway? And the PP said if they filled up then they would immediately leave and free up the bay. I don't even drive but common sense tells you this isn't an issue, it's not like they're actually parking there.

In my town we have 3 very large Tescos. All have dozens of disabled bays, 2 of the tescos always have the spaces full, the other is always virtually empty and I've been there various days/times. They are all within a 15 min drive of each other.

P & C bays are nice and useful, but were never a deal breaker for me. I've had 3 kids, and I never used to get the baby seat out, I always wore a sling or just took the pushchair basinet (or if lucky, found a trolley with a lie down baby chair in it), I think the taking baby seats out the car are a "relatively" new thing. Wasn't really a big thing when I had my first child, by my 3rd child it was the norm to connect car seat to the pushchair frame. I always hated it though, because then baby is it the seat for ages! Still it's easier to pop baby in their seat through an open door and buckle them, than needing to fling the door open wide to get the entire seat in/out..

Maybe the badge scheme needs changing, blue badges for "mobility" spaces near the doors, then other spaces further away get a different colour badge for "needs more room"?

I don't agree with parking on double yellows. Yes, I get it, closer parking. But those lines are for safety reasons. At my kids primary school we have yellows next to a crossing and they are always parked on and it means you simply can't see the traffic coming down the road to know if if it's safe to cross. Been too many near misses.

This is a particular problem in Norfolk where we have an ageing population where there are naturally a lot of older blue badge holders, coupled with people like me and my son (younger, hidden disabilities- I have lupus, bladder issues and all sorts and my son has autism and complex learning difficulties). I’ve noticed in the last few years it’s becoming harder and harder to find a disabled spot. Norfolk and Norwich hospital and the Riverside car park are particularly awful. If you need to be somewhere at a certain time you just literally have to hope and pray there’s a space. I need the width and of a disabled spot to get in and out of the car with my joint issues so if there’s no disabled spot I simply can’t park. That has meant missing hospital appointments at times even though I’ve given myself an extra hour to park!

The rules need to change, and the proportion required needs to reflect the demographics of that area.
Hospitals possibly need more spaces.
That ancient theatre that only has 3 wheelchair accessible seats doesn't need a dozen spaces.

I'd say round here, it is usually disabled and electric spaces empty, and the rest of the carpark packed. That obviously isn't the experience of everyone, hence each carpark needs to be tailored to its users.