Parking in a disabled parking bay

It is always 'in this instant'. There isn't any instant, disabled bays are for disabled drivers only.

Stop normalising it, isn't ok to make disabled people's lives even more difficult.

No I agree but in this instance there were plenty of spaces and the lady was there and would have moved if for some reason a person wanted that space instead of one of the other empty ones.

But you did take a space, and trying to justify it by saying no-one else was there doesn't excuse that.

You really need to get a hold of yourself I mean you could have just said you know I shouldn't have parked there you know it isn't right you don't have to be so dramatic about it !Just park in a normal bay and meet your son half way this will instill just as much independence as parking somewhere that was convenient for you.

I don't understand what you mean by the richteous army ? Do you think an able bodied persons and her sons "needs" overturns a disabled person rights and entitlements I'm just trying to work out your and other posters thinking?

It's not that I think the poster did any actual harm at the time, but kids notice this stuff and she showed him that their own unwillingness to walk a few car lengths was more important than respecting disabled people enough to leave them the tiny amounts of space they are entitled to in the world. And I just wouldn't want my kids to learn that lesson from me. Obviously there are far greater problems in the world but I appreciate the other adult using it as a teaching moment for her own young person.

Yanbu - lots of empty places, late at night. You did no harm but shouldn't have asked on here - the righteous army are out in full force.

It's really not up to individuals to give "permission" though I mean imagine you were. Trying to take your son swimming and you couldn't use his badge to park because of people just nipping in ?

My son is disabled and has a badge and that wouldn’t bit he me in the slightest. It wasn’t the last space and you weren’t staying. Some people just love to moan.

That's terrible and is a horrible lesson for your child. 'Use what you like as long as you have a justification for it but also no one else should do this'? If you don't think your child can make his own way across the parking lot himself that's your problem, doesn't mean you should use something that isn't yours.

Funny how it's always 'just 2 minutes' when a*holes park in an inconvenient (to the rest of society) place.

At my old local station there was three blue badge spaces by the station and a long and short stay carpark just along from it. No standard pickup/dropoff zone, which was a problem. Not my problem as the disabled person though, the council's problem - and if people wanted one, they should campaign for it.
I wasn't leaving a car there, but I still needed the disabled spaces to be dropped off in. Otherwise for whoever drove me it was parking on the road, which was dangerous because there's no space to get my wheelchair out, I can't just hop out onto the pavement. Or parking in the carpark, which also had disabled spaces, but that meant wheeling from the carpark to the station where there was no pavement. And I'm child height in a wheelchair, much less able to jump out of the way, in a narrow space that usually had loads of cars vying for space and not paying full attention. Also dangerous. For those who can walk short distances and use station assistance, it doubled the distance. And we already have to turn up at least 15 minutes in advance of the train (30 at some stations) to be able to get on the train with the assistance we've booked.

Oh and one time the person driving me asked someone to move out of the blue badge space so they could park to pick me up. When I came out the illegally parked guy started harassing us, taking photos of my blue badge in a deliberately intimidating way. I asked him to stop, and he said he was "just checking" but now he could see I was "really disabled" it was ok. That made no sense because he started taking the pictures after I'd come out in my wheelchair, and if I hadn't been in a wheelchair would he have assumed I wasn't really disabled? I told him to delete them but he didn't.

So, there may not be cars parked in the blue badge spaces longterm, but they are still there for a reason and it is still not okay to park in them, even for a moment.

It’s good that your son was there to witness it, a valuable lesson that anti social behaviour won’t be tolerated.

Your post doesn't add up @VividLilac , not saying you're trolling but I just don't understand. If you want your son to be more independent why are you mollycoddling him by insisting he can't walk a few extra yards? Able bodied 10 year olds are usually very active and capable of walking. They aren't toddlers!

I have a blue badge due to a broken back. I need the wider spaces because I cannot get out of a standard space without extreme pain.

When I used to take my daughter swimming, her lesson timing clashed with a dance group ending. Every single week the disabled spaces were used by parents doing a 'quick pick up'

It meant that every week I was either driving in circles waiting for a space to free up, or ended up in pain by parking in a standard space and further away.

All these parents thought it was fine because they were only there for a few minutes but collectively they made my pain worse. They all apologised when I asked if they had a badge but I saw the same parents doing it again. The leisure centre said they kept reminding parents but ultimately didn't have resources to patrol the parking.

There was an occasion where we simply turned around and went home because I couldn't manage to twist to exit my car.
(Exiting in a standard space requires far more twisting than you think, which isn't an issue unless you have mobility problems)

Needless to say I think even once is unreasonable when you have the ability (and health) to park in a standard space. Blue badges are issued for a health reason, not just because it's closer to the entrance.

I can't say blame the woman for her reaction.My DH has a blue badge and it's made me so much more aware about how many think it's OK to take a space because they are only 'popping in'.And don't get me started on the ones with big flashy SUVs who use disabled bays because they don't want their precious car near other cars.

You were in the wrong. You know it, it’s just embarrassing to have it pointed out. We all cock up occasionally, no harm done on this occasion. Don’t do it again. Job done.

You are parked even if you are sat in a car. Why not just wait on double yellows if you aren't bothered about rule breaking?

You shouldn't wait in a space for disabled people no matter how much you minimise and enable and typically explain why it is ok for you. It isn't.

Exactly this. @VividLilac you were being UR, and you know it. You're setting a terrible example for your child tbh.

At my station where I pick up from and park to take the train too, multiple times a day, for decades, there are 5 disabled spots which have literally never anyone parked in, eg. parked and left. There are 20 ish regular spots that are often completely filled by parked cars or those waiting. So when there is no regular spot, where do I wait to pickup? In a disabled spot. Maybe someone else does at the same time too but there are always a couple of disabled ones left, If there was only one left I would exit and do a lap and come back. Even though I would put money on no badge holder ever using it tbh, but I wouldn’t risk it and inconvenience them having to beckon me to move or them sssuming I am disabled. Also, ‘parked’ means you are out of the car. If you were in the car, particularly with the engine running, that isn’t parked. OP should have stayed in the car.

Since you are clearly not disabled, you could have parked somewhere in a bay for others and walked to the door to meet your son?

It's nice to see a grandmother teaching good manners and moral ethics to her grandchild. If everyone breaks the rules because it's convenient for them, then there is no point in the rules.

You were absolutely unreasonable to park in a disabled bay without a BB EVER - no exceptions.
Next time park in a normal bay, and get out and walk to where you can see your child.

'As others pointed out...its not necessarily about the parking since there was many other free spaces, its the normalising of this and people then taking it upon themselves to make up rules in their heads "...well I'll only be a second, it doesnt matter" "... I'm waiting in the car so what's the harm?!..." "...there is another free space so I'm not taking the last one..."

This. As if it's a one off never to be repeated.

The mentality of the op and the enablers/minimisers on here demonstrates that some believe it is up to them if for example they think their 10yr dc <who is being taught independence> shouldn't have to walk too far and as long as there isn't a queue of disabled people needing facilties legally identified for them then it's ok, it's all good .

...and on top of that, will likely definitely have had many day-ruining upsetting encounters with “just asking nicely” for someone to move.
People who park in blue badge spaces without a blue badge are very rarely willing to be nice about and immediately move their illegally parked vehicle.
Try asking a few and see how that goes.

I gave up on asking people to move. As @InchesThin says above, actually being able to ask someone - assuming they are in their car & haven't just "popped off for 5 minutes (usually nearer 20) to grab a McDonalds" - isn't easy when you can't find somewhere with enough space nearby to open the car door wide enough to get out, and adding further to your pain having to walk over to the car (yes, another 10 yards or so CAN make a difference).

And in most cases of people sitting in the car waiting they are completely oblivious to anything going on outside the car as they have the radio on loud, are having a conversation on speakerphone, or are just engrossed in social media on their phone. Only way to get attention is to knock hard on the driver's window, which of course means having to get out of your own car.

Then the responses can range from a faux apologetic "Oh I didn't realise it was a disabled bay" through an indignant "I was only going to be 5 (read 20) minutes", "well you aren't really disabled" (no, spinal nerve damage rarely shows on the outside), through "none of your fing business" - actually it IS my business as a blue badge holder, to "F off you Fing C, I'll park where I want. I'll Fing do you if you don't F off right now you fat C*".