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

Hams you are part of the issue.

My local leisure centre has 12 BB spaces. All in a row outside.

Many people "just pulling in to wait for someone". Great. There are admittedly 5/6/7 spaces still available.

However - whilst for your convenience we park further away from the entrance for you it's no issue - for my disabled ds who suffers severe muscle spasms and use of walking aid or wheelchair it means travelling further than he'd need to whilst in severe pain for your convenience.

If you don't have a Bb and aren't dropping off and/or collecting someone with a disability - just DON't USE THE SPACE.

It's easy. And makes you a decent human being.

Any other option makes you a complete dick. Pure and simple.

If you think your need for convenience trumps a disabled person need for inclusion and equality you're a waste of human empathy.

Tbf I have pulled into a disabled space to wait for someone or faff on my phone before continuing my journey but ONLY if there are least 2 other free disabled spaces. If the free spaces became full while I was there I would move immediately, but that space isn’t needed in that moment if it’s the third available space.

Other than the hospital though, we’ve never struggled to find a free disabled spot for FIL who is a BB holder. I agree it’s a pain at the hospital but I think in the wider world there are adequate spaces in my experience.

Round here BB holders tend to ignore the disabled spaces in the pay and display car parks (because they aren't exempt from paying) and just park on the double yellow lines on the side roads instead. I know they are allowed to do so, but in certain places where they park it's inconsiderate at best and dangerous at all, stopping emergency vehicles coming through etc....

I’ve never seen all the blue badge spaces taken in the larger car parks where I live. Obviously have in places there’s only 2 etc.

I take from that, that people who don’t actually have a blue badge, don’t park in them (broadly speaking), rather than thinking there’s an excess of blue badge spaces by the way!

I’m mystified by all the people saying they know of empty disabled spaces. Where I live there are three towns within an hour’s driving distance and none of them have sufficient disabled parking.

It has taken me two weeks to be able to get my glasses mended because every time I’ve gone to the shop I’ve not been able to park and had to come home.

Our nearest town is so bad that I just don’t bother going there any more - there is never a single spare space. Even the local out of town supermarkets are difficult at times.

I think the problem is two fold as the OP said - the huge increase in eligibility has meant lots more people with blue badges and there were never enough spaces to start with.

I was actually surprised yesterday to meet another wheelchair user at the supermarket yesterday - it’s so rare to see a physically disabled person in a blue badge space these days that it seemed almost strange.

It’s obvious from these comments that the situation differs across the country and I’d definitely be in favour of a tiered system where wheelchair users and people with other mobility aids have access to extra wide spaces and there are smaller ones for those who are more mobile and just need to be closer to the shop.

Wherever I go the disabled bays are empty and everywhere else is full.

my friend had a problem where her husband with Alzheimer’s was refused a disabled badge years ago and the staff at the shops told her to use parent and child bays. There definitely need to be more of those.

however things have changed now and I actually know someone who has got a disabled badge who doesn’t need one. They were told if they applied again after being rejected that they’d get it and it happened. They’re old but they’re able bodied, I think it’s disgraceful.

Yanbu.

They have recently knocked down and re built the local theatre.

Next door to that was a multi story. It was needing to be so demolished due to danger and they built a single story car park. The multi story had 7 BB spaces per level and mostly they were always full.

New car park has 1/4 of the number of available spaces.

Many people spoke to the (now retired) councillor who is a known twat about this.

The only response anyone got is "we are having as many spaces as required by law"m when asked how they were going to manage providing enough spaces.

When I pushed him via email I got a an extremely - true to form - email back from him basically saying I'd know some answers to the questions if I was actually disabled.

To which I happily told him I am not disabled - that doesn't mean I, nor others, shouldn't be campaigning for equality and inclusion.

That one stumped him!!!

(My ds is disabled and has a BB but I didn't tell him that!)

Now when we go into town we can rarely find a BB space whereas previously it was never an issue.

Going to get bashed for this… I think it depends on the area you live in. Some areas don’t seem to care about using the bay if not disabled. Yes I don’t know if they are disabled etc but I can tell if they don’t have a child with them and it seems to be the case for those bays so I am extrapolating.
Therefore, it won’t matter how many spaces there are, they will fill up regardless. Meanwhile where I live they are permanently available despite having a high proportion of elderly residents.

I used to bring my mum to stay with me from time to time. We always needed a loo stop on the way and I could never get a disabled space at the service station because of all the lazy people who didn't have blue badges taking up all the spaces. My poor mum always had such a struggle.
So many selfish people using spaces when they don't need them.
FIL had a wheel chair and so many times we would go somewhere and be unable to get him out of the car. It is exhausting.

I have to say that in the car parks I frequent the reverse is true - normal spaces all full but rows and rows of disabled spaces available. Though to be fair, as I’m not looking for a disabled space, I wouldn’t notice on the occasions the reverse was true.

I would never ever park in a disabled space (despite having a big car and 2 small children meaning parent and child spaces are extremely useful to me - sometimes physically cannot get the baby in/out in a normal space if the people either side are badly parked.) I just wouldn’t because I’d feel so bad if someone who needed it couldn’t us it. Plus I had assumed you would get a parking ticket for that in the same way you would for not paying, overstaying your time etc. is that not the case?

Every time we have a blue badge thread disabled people/carers all say there’s many times all the spaces are full yet people who aren’t disabled/carers are at pains to complain that the disabled spaces are always empty when they go. They must all live in the same magical town 🙄

Perhaps someone should petition the government as currently a car park only needs 6% of it's bays for disabled parking. I don't know how long it's been 6% but I imagine in more populated areas this is woefully inadequate.

However it should be policed more to stop people parking there who have no right to do. If the car parks are on private property then businesses are not going to employ a car park attendant just to stop non blue badge holders parking in disabled bays.

Definitely need more spaces. I know a few disabled people who have been using spaces for years and recently said how good it was that more people are eligible, forgetting that they now would find it even trickier to find a space.

Not with the ability to have a car adapted. Plus it could be the passenger that’s disabled.

And therefore need to increase the % of spaces accordingly

We regularly can’t find a disabled space round here. We find motorways service stations the worst.

Imo, it’s too complicated to say some should have extra width, but others don’t need it. How would anyone decide the ratio? Having the only free disabled space of normal width, would be neither use nor ornament to people needing a wide one!

There needs to be more enforcement - traffic wardens are red hot about parking beyond the time or on double yellow lines, but nobody cares about disabled parking spaces except the disabled!

Blue Badges used to be issued just for “severe breathing snd walking” issues. They have expanded the eligibility criteria to get a badge massively,🤷‍♀️

Why would it be, if the person who holds the BB is in the shop, Doctors etc? The driver could be waiting for them.

Using a normal sized space is doable with OLDER children but not with newborns or often, with toddlers. It is literally impossible to get a car seat into the car if someone else is parked next to you and on numerous occasions when mine were very small I had to leave them in very dangerous situations while I reversed the car out far enough to then get the seat and baby in. There need to be far more parent and child bays though I do think they should lower the age of the children that you can park in them with and move them further away from the shop - they don’t need to be close, just wide and next to a walkway of some sort, leaving the space next to the facility free for disabled spaces.

Same near me. I've never known them full anywhere.

It’s like most things access wise. Places to the very minimum to tick the boxes with no real consideration for the actual levels of need.

It also annoys me when car parks don’t have hatchlings on both sides of the car. Disabled spaces should come with plenty of space all around.

There's always empty disabled bays where I live, not so many empty standard spaces though.

Yep same. I very rarely use disabled bays for my son unless there is no other option. For me the benefit is being able to park on double yellows for a few hours, which we do often, but I can’t remember the last time I parked in a disabled bay.

"Whenever I go past a lot of spaces seem to have the driver's sitting in them, isn't that an abuse too?"

The driver may not be the blue badge holder.

I agree OP my mum has a blue badge and we regularly can't find a space for her, more recently at our local hospital on 2 occasions meaning I've had to drop her off, run her in and find a seat then move my car to miles away and run back for her.