Parking and the elderly

Do not use p&c as its not needed.
Just drop him off at entrance and park up.

What would be a good design is drop off areas with seating etc.

Realistically would a wheelchair not be better at his age if he cant even cross a car park?

But i do think it is a question because seems like a lot more elderly are at home rather than care home nowadays.

Also generally speaking elderly can shop in the day at less busy times so could park close whereas usually young families are both working hence prime time shopping. And often arent taking babies out at 6pm etc as they are in bed. google can tell you when stores are less busy.

Also i think some of the issue is a BB allows parking on double yellow or some restricted places which then causes traffic issues. If all over 80s could do this…

We do have similar issues with my parents especially my mum. I would say she needs the BB and would previously have had one.
Making the cars so wide your average person can hardly get out doesnt help!

They may appear fit to you, but who knows what could be going on with them inside. It is called hidden disabilities, and needs to be more understood by the general public, imo.

well my mum would wander off and it would take ages to find her then she would be embarassed and confused and stressed. So no, many people simply cannot do that.

but it's ok - they are only elderly. They don't matter having outlived their usefulness.

Also generally speaking elderly can shop in the day at less busy times so could park close whereas usually young families are both working hence prime time shopping

nope. I am working. When do you think i can take my mum shopping?
I get it. People with young children are to be prioritised at all times. Nobody else matters.

This. My relative with a blue badge lives an hour and a half away via busy motorways (so significantly longer if I tried to drive it in rush hour after work) and I work 9-5. If I am going to take her shopping, it’s on a Saturday or Sunday along with everyone else who works similar hours.

I reckon you’ve hit the nail on the head here. Elderly people are bottom of the pecking order. A poster upthread said elderly people have all the time in the world and should go to the supermarket at quiet times when they aren’t as likely to inconvenience all those busy parents with their busy lives, by parking in the parent and child spaces. Elderly people have lives/routines too. And so do their carers, who are often time constrained due to multiple commitments.

If I had dropped my mum at the front of a shopping centre when she was in her late eighties, she’d have been halfway to Timbuktu by the time I came back!

I wasn't agreeing at the spaces needing to be at the front @Awkwardisfunny, I was just pointing out that it isn't a lead, as it sounded connected to a dog, and stating that parents have always been able to use them. Dm used them on my sibling, as he was an incredibly hyperactive child. It wouldn't have mattered where we parked tbh the kid was feral (not a dog though) 😉.

On what planet are the elderly bottom of the pecking order in this country?
They are perhaps not absolute priority for everything (like parking spaces). Thats life.

@emuloc but what type of hidden disabilities are we talking about and why do they have more merit than unsteadiness on feet/confusion/general frailty if a 90 year old?

We could be talking about having asthma, or a heart condition, or neurological conditions, that of course, none of which you can obviously see, hence calling them hidden disabilities. Who has said that they have more merit, than 'unsteadiness on feet/confusion/general frailty if a 90 year old? Old age, in of itself, is not a disability, of course. The elderly gentleman in the OP post, was in receipt of a BB, quite rightly, and that should not be left unchallenged.

I suppose because I had to fight tooth and nail for a blue badge for my 90 year old father who was confused/unsteady/extremely frail and it was more than galling to see people with BBs bound out of their cars and walk quickly. He liked being "taken out", but often could not manage the additional walk from a "normal" parking spot.

People get them for all sorts of disabilities and rightly so, they are affected in all different ways and it isn't fair to compare. The elderly man should have been given a blue badge, and op needs to appeal. I suspect alot of people have to appeal as it's a rubbish system.

My DM has dementia, has multiple physical conditions that mean mobility is limited, and cannot safely be left on her own at the front of the store whilst I find a parking space. Like a pp stated, can just about get round a small supermarket but would struggle to get across and back through a carpark as well. Why should she be refused to go out shopping to choose the food she wants just because she has dementia and is doddery? For many elderly, it’s the only time they get out other than for appointments.
10 weeks and still waiting for her blue badge to be renewed!

Try dropping off an elderly person who takes 10mins and physical assistance out of a car, then cannot stand without support so you need to find a trolley (no point taking the walker when you are taking a trolley). Then them standing there, getting anxious and confused whilst you park on the other side of a car park. Then in reverse. Add in British weather.
Some posters on here have no clue what it’s like to support an elderly person!

Elderly people shopping in the day? I get it’s annoying when it’s busy, but sometimes the only time they can get out is when their relative (who works full time) can take them out

Im more shocked that council staff are making decisions on whether someone qualifies for a BB or not, at least thats how im reading the posts.

Ive Just been awarded a BB and although I applied to the council I had to go for a clinical assessment at a hospital, maybe its different in Scotland?

I think that if the space is genuinely needed for a disability parking in the child spaces is fine but saying the elderly in general should be prioritied over children is a bit shit tbh. Some people have clearly never had a car seat on both sides and had to wrestle a toddler in both doors. Not that long ago the last space in my local Tescos was taken by an older not old man I’d say 60s no blue badge in a Range Rover, there was also a few other spaces occupied by men sitting in cars while their wives had ran in to grab a few bits. I double parked in the back row of the car park and got a picture taken of my car on the local parked like a cunt page on fb I don’t care tbh but it just shows doesn’t it everyone begrudges parents the child spaces but if we take up extra space at the back that’s an issue too.

I have wrestled children into a car. I have taken out elderly grandparents who didn’t have blue badges but needed them. I know who needed it more and it wasn’t me as an able bodied parent!

Those who get enough points in the right area of PIP get one automatically. Otherwise you apply to the council and provide evidence and they decide if they are going to be accepted or not, some may be called for an assessment but not everyone.

interestingly DS has just moved to PIP and now gets too MANY points to automatically qualify for blue badge 🤦‍♀️

When my dad was alive and had a blue badge as a passenger, I used the parent and child space on occasions, placing the blue badge so visible.

Supermarkets have parent and child spaces as a planning sop, no intention of enforcing them, and if the OPs dad uses a walking stick I doubt anyone will mind.

You are being incredibly selfish.

Give over. This is somebody trying to help her elderly disabled neighbour to go shopping. She didn’t say she would park in a disabled space, she’s talking about parent and child spaces. She is clearly not selfish in anyway whatsoever.

Thank you for explaining.

Wrong 70 year old friend of mine who is at risk of falls due to NHS denying him a knee replacement (IMO a seven year wait is not a wait , it is denial) got fined because he parked in a supermarket parking space without a blue badge because he thought the same as you.

Yes they are. And seemingly unable to imagine any problems umless tbey are the problems faced by the demogrsphic they are part of.
Hence they think it entirely reasonable of offload am old person who has difficulty walking to stand in the cold while their driver parks up so that their precious children are not left alone in the car for less than a minute or get wet.
It will be different story when they are the old person themselves or if they - unlike a lot of MN posters seemingly - feel a sense of duty towards their parents and they are faced with the rigmarole of dumping and parking.

Some supermarkets do enforce P and C spaces, especially if the parking is managed by a company. Fines are a source of revenue.