Asked someone to move from the disabled bay

[AllThingsServeTheBeam]

No real point to the thread really. But today instead of us driving off and trying to find somewhere else to park in our town, dp stopped and told someone who was just sat in a disabled bay with the engine idling with no badge to move (nicely). The guy did move and pulled up further along. We were able to park up with a much shorter walk!

Why do people think it's ok to park in disabled bays when they don't need them? We would have normally just driven off and I would have possibly had to have stopped in the car if it was too far for me to walk. People don't seem to care their actions have concequences.

My elderly DM has had a BB for about 10 years. She doesn't drive. Never has. And nowadays only leaves the house for attending hospital appts. anyway.

However for the first year of so of having the badge she was still up for doing a bit of shopping and I'd take her once a week and we used to use the supermarket wheelchairs.

Christ the number of times i was challenged either on the way to the shop to get the wheelchair or coming back from returning it or going to the car with the shopping before going back for my mum It was unpleasant for both of us sometimes.

And the point is this was always in a bloody great Tesco car park on random weekday mornings with LOADS of disabled parking - 80%+ - still empty.

This isn't aimed at the ''just glancers'' here on the thread. It's in case there's any of the MANY pumped up self appointed ''challengers'', which i know damn well are out there, are reading this thinking they are wonderful.

For anyone who had been challenged when using a BB space perfectly legally, I'm sorry that it happened. It really shouldn't.

@Sideswiped

For anyone who had been challenged when using a BB space perfectly legally, I'm sorry that it happened. It really shouldn't.

I honestly don't mind if done in a polite way. It's the aggressive 'you can't possibly be disabled' people that need to turn it down a notch or 2. And I extend that out to parking wardens

@iwanttobeonleave

I recently saw a mum from school who I had previously completely respected park in a disabled bay. It's completely changed my view of her. What reasonable person would do this?!

Before you judge do you know if she has any hidden disabilities? I have two and either will give me a blue badge but I look fit and healthy.

@iwanttobeonleave - sorry thought I had read all of the thread before replying

Its terrible the way people have been challenged even when displaying a BB, I genuinely dont mind if people look in the windscreen to see if we're displaying our BB but that is where people should draw the line as that is all the information anyone needs.

If there is a valid BB no more questions should be asked, no one should have to give any 'proof' or discuss medical conditions, hidden disability or otherwise. Its hard enough dealing with DSs condition which can vary greatly, without having to justify to a stranger in front of him.

Don't start at me about people not choosing to be a parent, because that's an extreme and rare example.

No it isn't, childminders and nannies exist

@Hospedia

how pray tell are people supposed to get car seats in and out of cars in normal skinny bays?

Don't get the car seat put at all and use a pushchair/pram? If you're at the supermarket and need hands free for a trolley then use a sling or use one of the trolleys that has the reclined infant seat? It's not good for babies to be in car seats any longer than necessary anyway but if you must take it out then find a space where you will have room to do so such as the end of a row where you know no one will be able to park next to you on one side.

Ridiculous

I don't know why people get so worked up about P&C spaces existing.

I have no problem with a BB holder using a parent and child space (I have a 1 Yr old) but those who don't qualify do piss me off. How does someone decide they are more deserving of the parent and child space than the child who may have learning delays, or the mother who had a c-section recently.

A wider space keeps myself and child safer. If there aren't any then I work around it usually by voting with my money and spending it elsewhere at places which are more accommodating to parents and children.

I've done it by accident on a couple of occasions now. Parent and child spaces in quite a few places near me are right next to the disabled bays and the only distinction is the pic on the floor which you often can't see due to the other cars being either side. All you can see is the cross hatches marking out the bays and the notably wider spaces.

When I first moved here I ended up in the disabled bay nearest the P&C spaces in a couple different places before I realised what I'd done.

I think if you're a new parent or new to an area then it can be a tiny bit hard to judge in a busy car park with a screaming baby onboard.

@SliceOfCakeCupOfTea

I've done it by accident on a couple of occasions now. Parent and child spaces in quite a few places near me are right next to the disabled bays and the only distinction is the pic on the floor which you often can't see due to the other cars being either side. All you can see is the cross hatches marking out the bays and the notably wider spaces.

When I first moved here I ended up in the disabled bay nearest the P&C spaces in a couple different places before I realised what I'd done.

I think if you're a new parent or new to an area then it can be a tiny bit hard to judge in a busy car park with a screaming baby onboard.

But I'm assuming if someone pointed it out to you you'd have moved as it was a genuine mistake? And you didn't purposely park there. (The disabled bay the guy parked in couldn't have been more clear)

There are a whole host of reasons that people may not qualify for a blue badge but would still benefit from the wider spaces. Parenthood isn’t the only reason people find wider spaces useful

@Akire

I see this all time badge on display but driver sat in car whole time. Meaning no one can use it. If the driver is disabled but staying in the car they can park anywhere and wait. If it’s a passenger park further away and then pick up closer (even if they managed walk around whole shop but last 10 metre to a non blue badge space is beyond them) As a blue badge holder I’d say least 1/4 spaces are hogged by sitting people drives me up the wall.

@akire I use a wheelchair. I can wheel my manual chair round a shop because the floor is level and smooth. I can’t wheel my manual chair outside because the ground is rough, and not level. And I can’t grip in the rain.

God yes.

That's what pisses me off. People should be allowed to make a genuine mistake without being villified across social media, but the entitled arseholes who do this shit on purpose (let's face it, they seem to outweigh the 'genuine mistakers') mean most people just assume that everyone's an arsehole.

Not saying any of this is at you OP, just my general musings on making mistakes in public

@SliceOfCakeCupOfTea

God yes.

That's what pisses me off. People should be allowed to make a genuine mistake without being villified across social media, but the entitled arseholes who do this shit on purpose (let's face it, they seem to outweigh the 'genuine mistakers') mean most people just assume that everyone's an arsehole.

Not saying any of this is at you OP, just my general musings on making mistakes in public

I've forgotten to show my BB once and we had a parking ticket. Totally my fault. DP had got out to get the pushchair out for DS. We have to appeal it and I got a letter back telling me not to do it again 🙈

@iwanttobeonleave

Guys, the mum from school I saw using the disabled bay IS NOT DiSABLED, there is no blue badge. She runs with the running group, she has no hidden disability. I know her!!

She used the space because it was the closest to the gym and not being used.

I'm not 'judging' her, it's fact!! I used it as an example to prove that able bodied can be selfish enough to use disabled bays, which, as I said, I find it very difficult to understand. Good lord!!

People on MN are obsessed with the idea that someone is probably secretly disabled. But the reality is that a lot of entitled people think we (genuinely severely disabled people) get "perks", and don't see why they shouldn't have the same!

(Even though they are actually not perks at all.)

@Akire

I see this all time badge on display but driver sat in car whole time. Meaning no one can use it. If the driver is disabled but staying in the car they can park anywhere and wait. If it’s a passenger park further away and then pick up closer (even if they managed walk around whole shop but last 10 metre to a non blue badge space is beyond them) As a blue badge holder I’d say least 1/4 spaces are hogged by sitting people drives me up the wall.

If the badge holder is remaining in the car then they shouldn't continue to park there whilst they wait.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england#who-can-use-the-badge

Can I add the couple I have faced recently.

Last week, trying to work in the last disabled space and the other car (the two spaces are at right angles to each other) was hanging over the second space to such an extent I couldnt get in and there was no where else to aprk so I beeped my horn. They didnt move forward so I beeped again. The man got out of the passenger side and called me a hooligan for beeping and not politely getting out of my car and asking them. Until I pointed out I couldn't easily get out and that was why I had a disabled badge. He beat a rapid retreat. I'm guessing that niether he or his wife had a disabled badge.

Second time, again same car park, both spaces taken up by parents who dont display a badge (I work in a school and the larger the car, the more likely the parent to park there without a badge). There was another space with a cone in, that I got a pupil to move so I could park. The person who put the cone there, came straight up to my office and ordered me to move out of his space. I said I would if there was a space I could to move to, or if he got one of the space abusers to move. He wouldnt but didnt care that if I wasnt in that car park I couldnt get into my office to work. I put in a complaint about him. But I didnt move my car because I had the choice of there or go home.

I also hate my Dr's, four disabled spaces and rarely a space free. When I can get parked there, I can guarentee all 3 of the other cars in spaces dont have a badge. If I cant park there, it means I dont get my medication when I need it. If they have to park further away they have a longer walk that I can no longer do.

Can you tell Im upset and frustrated by this. I can walk, but with a stick and it takes most of my energy getting out of the car. A post I shared on facebook last week said it all:

The truth is that anyone can become disabled at any time.

Please consider this when you're shoving us into corners, denying us the same access, talking down to us and not bothering to provide accommodations.

Because in the blink of an eye. this could become your reality too.

@iwanttobeonleave

I recently saw a mum from school who I had previously completely respected park in a disabled bay. It's completely changed my view of her. What reasonable person would do this?!

I hoped you know for certain this mother didn't need the space and is not a blue badge holder.

Things change sometimes and not always for the better

But if you know for sure, she is misusing the space, report her to the traffic wardens.

I am

@Akire

I see this all time badge on display but driver sat in car whole time. Meaning no one can use it. If the driver is disabled but staying in the car they can park anywhere and wait. If it’s a passenger park further away and then pick up closer (even if they managed walk around whole shop but last 10 metre to a non blue badge space is beyond them) As a blue badge holder I’d say least 1/4 spaces are hogged by sitting people drives me up the wall.

I have had to do this especially when DS was about 8ish. I was in a wheelchair and if a quick errand needed to be run, he would pop out of the car, run and do it then come back. Although I (as the disabled person) wasn't needing to be close to the shop, it made it easier for DS and gave me reassurance that I was close if needed. I still feel guilty, but needs must at the time.

I don't feel guilty for staying with the car. Went with my dad to his hospital appointment last week, he has a blue badge so we parked in the BB space. It's patients only at the hospital, you can't have someone accompanying you. I didn't have his chair or his scooter because one one was in my mum's car and the other wasn't charged (emergency appointment so wasn't expecting to go out) so I went and got a hospital chair, got him in it, and took him back to the entrance where a porter was waiting to take him down to the clinic. I went and waited in the car as the cafe was closed and there was nowhere else to wait, I didn't move rhe car because all of the other parking is behind pay-to-park barriers, much further away, and was full so there would be no guarantee I'd be able to park up close enough to pick my dad back up.

@iwanttobeonleave

Guys, the mum from school I saw using the disabled bay IS NOT DiSABLED, there is no blue badge. She runs with the running group, she has no hidden disability. I know her!!

She used the space because it was the closest to the gym and not being used.

I'm not 'judging' her, it's fact!! I used it as an example to prove that able bodied can be selfish enough to use disabled bays, which, as I said, I find it very difficult to understand. Good lord!!

How do you know she is not disabled? I am disabled. I’m also in a running group. I don’t qualify for a blue badge, though.

@daisypond you need a BB to park in a diasbled bay.

[quote AllThingsServeTheBeam]@daisypond you need a BB to park in a diasbled bay.[/quote]
Yes, I know. I just wanted to explain that the statement “the mum from school…is not disabled, there is no blue badge” doesn’t make sense. Being disabled and having a blue badge aren’t the same thing. Most disabled people won’t have a blue badge.

Regardless, she shouldn't be parking in the disabled bay if she hasn't got a BB