Parking and the elderly

I dont understand why he couldn't renew the blue badge. Was the first one a temporary badge for temporary disabilities? I've just renewed FILs and it's just a tick box that their circumstances have not changed. No supporting documents required this time. Was there a mistake with your application?

@WishIStudiedScienceand @humptydumptyfelloff
blue badges aren’t just for drivers.

Challenge the refusal. Mistakes are made fairly frequently.

It just be that the wording or evidence offered did not conform to your council’s box ticking.

Happened to me several badges ago.

I challenged the refusal and was given a badge again.

She drives. The passenger has the blue badge.

@Ireallycantthinkofagoodone , challenge the decision.

Disabled spaces nearly all full here

LB of Enfield issues brown badges to those over a certain age and provides parking spaces by the lifts in the multistorey car parks.

I had the exact same problem with an elderly relative who was under the care of the NHS Falls Service, which recommended the blue badge that the council turned down repeatedly.

What I tended to do was pull into the disable bay, get her out and sit her on the seat of her wheeled walker, then go and park in a regular space. I'd do the same thing in reverse on the way out.

There seems to be very little understanding of what old age actually means to one’s mobility, resilience, and confidence. I still volunteer, I go to the swimming pool, I have quite an active social life, mainly during the day. But I tire much more easily, and my stamina is far less than even five years ago.

Several of my friends, all around 80, use walking frames and/or walking sticks. We are very conscious that we are slower, less stable on our feet, and lack stamina. We try and keep active, but are careful not to fall. Falling causes far more issues to an elderly body, than to a younger, more robust one. Having a blue badge means (whether we drive or not) the opportunity to get out, whether to the shops, the theatre, the leisure centre.

I’d also add, if anyone who has no mobility issues sees someone who is obviously old standing up on public transport, please offer them a seat, and please don’t sit in the accessible seats. Many of us avoid it nowadays, as being jolted, with an increased risk of falling, is a genuine worry as we get frailer.

I have 3 young children so regularly use P&C spaces, I would have absolutely no issue with seeing a frail elderly person who doesn’t have a blue badge use one! I’d say they need it more than I do as I can walk 3 children across the car park if I need to.

It’s crazy how people think older people should just stay home.

And yet if you suggested to them that the children can stay home they would go crazy.

They should just use the P&C bays if they have a genuine need.

You absolutely should use the P&C bay for him.

Just make sure the parking sign doesn’t say that there is a charge if there isn’t a child in the car. (Unlikely).

There was a story in The Times one day this week of a 70-something guy with one leg who uses a wheelchair. He had a blue badge but needed to reapply, because the blue badge needs to be renewed at intervals. He was turned down.

Apparently someone who had interviewed him had commented that there are people with one leg who run marathons. Probably not people who have had a leg amputated above the knee in their 70s!

We do need a better system. Anyone in pain, including temporary issues such as a 6 week recovery from an operation, should be allowed closer parking spaces, and I know sometimes people are perfectly safe to drive, but in agony when they walk (eg left leg injury but drives an automatic). Older, frail people are often scared to use public transport, and seeing how kids harass them on the bus, I don't blame them.
But as you say OP, some people in their seventies regularly jog, so an age pass alone isn't sensible. And reading how many parents on here get priority passes/things for their kids when they admit they don't really need them, e can't just rely on people being decent.

Brown Badges are relevant to TWO local authorities in the whole of the country. And they are both in Greater London. It’s a nebulous discussion.

You say it is private land, so surely the owners are allowed to impose whatever restrictions they like.

My garden is private land. I do not give you permission to park on it.

Exactly
There might be nowhere to sit .
They might get stressed and try and find the driver .
Other pedestrians walking about looking at their phones not their surroundings are a massive hazard .
They might get bumped into.
They might be robbed .

Works the same as blue badge parking spaces, closer to amenities in city centres. I don’t much about these, I just noticed it was something when I was trying to argue my mums point when she was refused a blue badge. These are not a thing in the city I live in.

But what do they do? There are no brown badge spaces, so what is the brown badge for?

In supermarket car parks the disabled parking spaces never seem to be policed. I’m pretty sure if your elderly friend parked there without a blue badge he would be absolutely fine. I doubt that staff are going to get into a confrontation. Tbh they seem to just allow people to pinch things and walk out without being challenged, so I’m sure a 93 year old parking in a disabled spot without a badge isn’t going to be confronted. That’s the least of their worries.

Ive had two childten under 2, and a patent with a wheelchajr who isnt disabled enough for aBlue Badge.

It was a hell of a lot easier to get the baby/toddlers out of the car and into a shop from a normal space than it is with the wheelchair user.

I imagine that Dignitas will be mentioned in your next posting.