AIBU to think Blue Badge holders can use parent and child spaces?

The reasonable adjustment provision is an entirely separate thing & doesn’t change the fact that blue badge spaces on private land do not have the legal standing of those on public land.

All the private car park operator can do is issue a PCN which is essentially an invoice for breach of contract. These are weak legally unlike those issued by a local council.

There is no special “parked in a blue badge” PCN, it’s the same fine for overstaying, parking in an EV space without charging or any of the other myriad ways a private car park operator may issue a PCN.

One could argue that having three young babies is your choice. A disability isn’t.

plus you were on maternity leave you say? Possibly reliant on the state, or at the very least your employer, to pay you while you enjoy your time off? Yet you are also showing an attitude that you are owed something to make your life easier.

so maybe rather than begrudging those who don’t have a choice, you could show some empathy.

Let’s be honest, most car parks need to be redesigned to make the spaces larger due to the size of cars these days.
I do get frustrated when people without children park in the P&C spaces and I can’t get one myself. I would probably grumble if I saw a BB holder in one but only because I’d been inconvenienced by not getting one, not because I actually begrudged them the space.
In my experience where I live (and the shops I go to!) there are always lots of BB spaces available but P&C spaces are always filled. I have twins, so I have to park miles away so I have room on both sides to get my boys out, but every single time I’ve had to do this, some idiot always parks right next to me anyway (including one time at IKEA when I’d parked next door but one to a trolley bay thinking no one in their right mind would slot in there… alas when I came back there he was!). I do prefer being closer to the store too, as it means I can get my boys inside safely, but I’d be happy if they were further away and there was a pathway to the store.
The best place near me is a supermarket where each space has a section between them so there is plenty of room in every single parking space. They still have P&C spaces but they’re often not full because Mr Flash Car doesn’t need to park there because his precious car won’t get bashed.

Best comment I’ve seen on MN for a very long time. Well said.x

BB spaces absolutely are protected in private car parks. There is a legal obligation to provide reasonable adjustment for disabled people to access goods and services whether the car park is private or public. In every private car park I’ve ever seen there are disabled bays and signage warning that abuse of them will result in a fine.

Yep. The Sainsburys local by me has a small car park and standard bays are nearer the door than the minimal required disabled bays.

PIP is not an out of work benefit and has nothing to do with the ability to work . It assesses the overall impact of disabilty and translates it into the extra cost of living with it. You have no idea of what it’s like to live as a disabled person and no appreciation of the fact that P&C spaces are provided as a concession only - disabled spaces are protected by law because being a parent is in no way comparable to living with a disability.

I have done and will currently use a P&C space, but only when there are no available disabled bay. Shoot me if you want but I'm on crutches struggling to walk until I get shiny new knees. Even with these spaces it's still struggle to even just pop into a shop.

@limeebergomotti you really aren't being empathetic. That's why your comments keep being deleted.
There's a clue… when you say "you guys" about a group of people, you generally aren't being empathetic.

Never understood why P&C places are needed, and if they are, why they can't be located further away from the front door of the shop. I walked through the car park when mine were babies/toddlers without any issue.

I get the brand new car, but no Blue Badge. I also get regular payments into my bank account. £458.40 to be precise. I’m not sure why you think that means I have no need to work but I usually find this attitude comes from ignorance so I guess you could, you know, learn before spouting shite?

Who are "you guys"? So you are not receiving or have not received statutory maternity pay while on maternity leave? Do you actually live in the UK? My guess is you don't given your ignorance of how things work here.

Oh dear.

Well you sound like a complete arsehole!!

Virtue signalling for the BB group yet showing no care for parents with young children.

I hope you find your wheelchair soon

@limeebergomotti Do you seriously think you could pretend to be so physically disabled that you could get the higher rate if pip mobility?😂 You have to provide medical evidence. it is true that the majority of blue badge holders don't work but that is because about 70 percent are OAPs. While I have a blue badge I don't get pip or any other benefit. You presumably get maternity benefits, child benefit etc.

Nah, anyone can/does. Fuck the struggling mammy with a baby in a car seat that needs to get the pushchair out the boot then wrestle the toddler out. Then come back with her shopping to pack away in car.
Anyone can park there 😄

Whilst I would never in a month of Sundays park in a disabled bay

I just don’t feel that way about parent places and never begrudged anyone parking in them without kids when I had 2 under 2.

and now…. Well if the only space available is a parent spot… then yep, I’d probably swing in with my 16 and 14 year old!

As I said previously, I am also the mother of a toddler. Blue badge holders and parents are not two mutually exclusive groups and there does not need to be enmity between them, their rights should not be in competition.
If I am in a car with my husband and our baby we can use either a blue badge space or parent and child one, whichever is free or more convenient because I fit into both categories and because, in both cases, we need the extra space to make it easier for me to get out of the car and to get our little one out of her car seat. Thus I benefit from a larger space as a parent and a disabled person, for the same reason, more room.

When I had small dc I would have quite happily have given up a P&C space for a disabled person if all the disabled spaces were full.

A person with kids can use an ordinary space elsewhere in the car park (however inconvenient that might be), but a disabled person physically can't. Surely people would agree that the disabled have a greater need for accessible parking than anyone else.

Hilarious that you are talking about empathy given the complete lack of empathy you have shown towards people with blue badges 😂 Are you trying to be ironic. Most of us do have an idea about what it is like to have children but unlike you those of us with blue badges also know what it is like to be disabled. Having a blue badge is nothing to do with being unemployed either so I am not sure why you keep going on about that.

Well at least we know you won’t be parking in the Parent and Child spaces then!

Joshing aside, I’m sorry if I have annoyed you. There are lots of people, like yourself who are in genuine need of spaces and PIP etc.

My issue is those who don’t work when perhaps they could, who are reliant on the state and have an attitude that it’s all owed to them somehow.

As a mum with three young babies, whilst on maternity leave - I needed those parent and child spaces desperately.

Getting two toddlers and a newborn safely into the supermarket was difficult to say the least.

These spaces aren’t protected legally in the same way that BB spaces are.

So rather than begrudging parents with young children, maybe these posters should show some empathy.

Or not. As I’ve tried to show, it can work both ways.

No, they don’t. Private parking charge notices are legally quite different to council penalty charge notices. The latter is a statutory fine that can escalate to court orders, bailiffs etc.

Private PCNs are basically an invoice & much harder to enforce. Many car parks (eg Sainsbury’s, Tesco) use ANPR on entry/exit and don’t have car parks attendants physically checking blue badges, so people feel emboldened to try it on.