Parking and the elderly

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.

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.

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 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.

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

Disabled spaces nearly all full here

She drives. The passenger has the blue badge.

@Ireallycantthinkofagoodone , challenge the decision.

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.

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

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?

In my area, there are never enough blue badge spaces, presumably due to the aging population. Due to demographics it’s only going to get worse. My 93 year old mum insists on going shopping at peak times, which doesn’t help.Some local authorities still charge for blue badge spaces, presumably due to demand. With cars getting ever bigger, it’s going to be a bigger problem.

@Nearly50omgyou clearly have a revulsion of getting old with attitudes like the ones you’ve expressed. Maybe your user name is a clue. But the views you’re expressing are quite awful. Do they also apply to people with disabilities? Or is it just the elderly who need to be locked up out of sight?

Eh?

If you designated your garden as a car park then I could - if I followed your regulations

Which is the whole point of my post. Not all disabled spaces are Blue Badge only. It's private land and it's up to them whether they stipulate this or not. My local supermarket carpark (co-op) doesn't have this restriction displayed.

My OH has applied for a blue badge because he can barely walk. I currently have to drop him at Tesco entrance then find a parking space. He's now been waiting 3 months. We don't actually know what's wrong with his feet as there's a 7 month wait for the orthopaedics clinic so not hopeful.
A friend's son with a below the knee amputation was turned down as he's "only lost half his leg, not the whole thing"

Don't see the need for parent and child spaces. They didn't exist when my kids were small and we all managed.

We've an aging population. There simply isn't enough room for the number of blue or brown badge spaces that would be needed if we handed them out to all old people.

I think blue badge holders should take precedence nearer the store of course and parent and child spaces can be further away.

However, I do disagree that you should use parent and child spaces because these are sorely needed. We (early 60s) take our grandchildren out (4+2) and reaching into to car to unbuckle them, lift them out of and into car seats is back wrenching enough without not being able to open the doors fully wide. It might be great when you're in your 20s/30s but a lot of grandparents look after grandchildren and they need the space too to avoid injury and needing a blue badge themselves!

I think the fact some people think fit and health adults need a closer parking space over a frail elderly person simply because they have a child with them says a lot about what is going wrong in society. Are people really that self centred?

She’s driving him, taking him food shopping.

The reason supermarkets give parent and child spaces near the front of a store is because they are competing with other supermarkets for their money and what they spend in the shop. So make it nice and easy. And near. Families are more likely to buy a trolley load.

I know people think or like to think it is some sort of social statement by the supermarkets ‘helping mums and tots’, and they present it that way. But it really is just about money.

Old people who do not qualify as disabled nor for a blue badge on the other hand buy less. A bag of tea. Swiss roll. Tin of cat food. Biscuits. Small pieces of food. So are worth less to the supermarket. Who do not go out of their way to make the experience nice for them.

They would never say that of course. But that is the cold reality. That and a society that seems to continue down a path of proactively despising older people. So they know nobody else is all that bothered either.

OP didn’t say this?

Half a mile? That’s a bloody big carpark.

drop him at the door and then park elsewhere. You can do that with an adult, I can’t with my baby and toddler.

Get him one of those walkers that has a fold down seat. Pull up at the entrance where taxis drop off, get him out of the car with his Walker, sit him in the entrance whilst you go park your car. When he’s finished shopping do the reverse.
All the supermarkets round me have P+C spaces away from the entrance, so parking there would still mean a good walk for users. Also, why was his Blue Badge renewal refused? Surely at his age he is less mobile than when he first received it?

I know people say the parent and child places are wider and needed because of that but as cars have got much bigger that additional space is all lost.

And it’s been pointed out numerous times up thread. He was a passenger. Like so many blue badge holders who don’t drive.