Disabled Parking

Yes but only if I'm with my mum and she's using her blue badge! I'd never use one just because I had the kids with me. Having kids is absolutely not an excuse to use a disabled bay unless one of the kids is disabled.

Did he have a blue badge?
If he did you had no right having a go at him
My son has a blue badge and even a mobility car he csn run as fast as the wind but has severe autism and severe learning disabillties and is unable to travel anywhere independently as he doesnt have the capacity to keep himself safe.

I understand you can only use spaces for disabled people if they are with you when parking or you are picking them up.

If they are not with you and you use a disabled space, it is against the 'rights and responsibilities' laid out in the Dept of Transport (England) booklet.
It is a criminal offence to misuse a badge- could lead to a £1000 fine and confiscation of the badge. Totally unfair on the disabled person.

Parents with babies, prams, toddlers etc have their own designated bays.

Where did i say it did?

Thank you. I didn't know it was a criminal offence but I'm glad it is. It makes me feel very uncomfortable and I don't accept lifts from her anymore. I drive myself or I offer to drive her.

No. My mum had a life limiting disability and the number of times we could not get disabled parking was untrue. People are sometimes despicable.

I’ve never parked in a disabled bay even when I had two babies/toddlers in the car. But I have been forced to leave our local retail park when people without children (in our area it’s usually pensioners or white van drivers) took the last family parking space and waltzed into the building without a care in the world. A bit of respect and empathy all round would go a long way.

If the baby has a blue badge the mother would be entitled to park in a disabled space when travelling with the baby.

It’s not your opinion that matters though. You are not the person that issues the badges so your opinion is irrelevant and invalid. You had no right to have a go at someone. You’d probably have a go at me justifiably using my BB in a BB space, and I’d eff and blind at you too.

See this is the kind of ignorance that contributes towards people judging disabled folk and feeds into the idea blue badges and benefits are given out like sweets.

Im disabled and my health can change very quickly, I have a blue badge but due to strangers choosing to being ignorant and aggressive, and thinking they have some kind of right to come and have a go at me because they cant visibly see me struggling in that few moments, I’ve had men try and snatch my badge out of my hand just to see my name on the back, Ive had strangers demand I tell them my medical indie and as a result I have a lot of anxiety around being out my home because I feel vulnerable as it is, but the anger some people choose to express because they can’t find a space is very intimidating.

Hospital parking is very stressful, I always allow an hour to find any space and rarely get a disabled bay, sometimes the person supporting me will spot someone they don’t think looks disabled enough and wind their window down to start having a go and I have to remind them that they’re about to do what people do to me, and they’ll go “but you’re actually disabled, you’re genuine” 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. That’s the whole point, just because someone looks ok it doesn’t mean they are not disabled.

My sister used to take her disabled dad to chemo, some sessions she couldn’t stay with him all day, she’s had people have a go at her for using the disabled bay when she returns to her car and when she would arrive to pick him up, she swore at them too.

Your mum not having access to a disabled bay at a hospital when she needs it isn’t the fault of other blue badge holders who got there first, and I hope one day if you find yourself in a situation where you are returning to the car in a hospital carpark without your disabled mum, you don’t have someone choosing to have a go at you and I mean that genuinely.

Yes I do. Because i can.

Or if you score 8 or more points on on PIP criteria ‘moving around’.

It’s also worth noting in Scotland you need 12 points under ‘planning and following journeys’ to automatically qualify for a BB, whereas in England it’s 10 specifically.

Agreed! They might have a go at me too, I have severe arthritis in several joints, I wouldn’t say I ever walk spritely but I can sometimes walk a few metres normally and I go to the gym 3 times a week. What you might not have seen is me struggling to get out of the car due to restricted knee bend after surgery. On a good day you might not see what happens when my other (waiting for surgery) knee gives way or locks and I struggle to walk even a few steps. I’ve had to be helped out of shops a few times and so won’t go on my own now due to embarrassment. I have to open the car door fully so that I can actually get out so most normal spaces are not an option for me unless I can park with the driver door next to the kerb. My doctors and local
council have judged that I am entitled to a blue badge. If anyone dared to question me then they’d be told in no uncertain terms to get fucked.

DS doesn’t look disabled. So when he isn’t using his wheelchair people may assume he doesn’t need to space. The truth is when he isn’t using his wheelchair he probably needs the space a lot more than when we try to do a trip on foot!

I park in them when I have DH with me who has a blue badge and can't walk without pain . I can't stand the people with no badge who use the spaces as "nip in to the shop" spaces and leave the driver sitting in the vehicle while someone else runs in.

Nope, wasn't obvious then and 4 pages in, still not obvious.

It did read to me as if you had assumed no one on Mumsnet could also be disabled so you thought you were asking a group of 100% able bodied people this question, but surely no one is that dim?

You still haven't clarified why you are asking, or indeed who it is you think you're asking.

Never. My parents struggled enough to find a space when they needed one. If they were with me and I dropped them at the entrance, even thought technically with me and I had their blue badge, i stilled parked in a normal space. Keep them free for those who need them. Plus I am afraid I’ll jinx myself if I parked in one when it’s not needed

No, although I do have a hidden disability I don’t have a blue badge so I can’t park in the disabled bays. I don’t qualify for a blue badge under my council’s rules, plus when I’m in too much pain to walk the length of the car park I’m in too much pain to drive, generally.

I think it's obvious what the op meant. Not do you park in a disabled bay if you have a bb. Obviously yes you would .

Rather, do you park in bb bays for convenience if you don't have a bb and sadly op many do. I doubt they'll dare admit it here though.

Come on you clearly know what she meant.

Honestly? You can’t understand? The OP has clearly noticed people that do not have a blue badge parking in disabled spaces and is asking for those people that do that to explain why.

Don’t worry OP. It was obvious.

Only when I driving my disabled relative in their wheelchair adapted vehicle (with their blue badges). Even then, in lots of places the disabled spaces aren't long enough to unload the wheelchair or have enough space to lower the ramp. Sometimes we need to park on yellow lines.

I had this issue the other week. My mum is now wheelchair bound but we haven’t applied yet. I used and Parent and Baby and still felt guilty!

Yes. But I do have a blue badge.

As my disability is not immediately visible (dural ectasia among other things) I an often challenged.