Parking Disabled Spaces

[babsanderson]

Do you ever park in disabled parking spaces?

My DH has a blue badge and it seems so common for non disabled people to do this, especially when waiting in their car for a child to leave an activity. He just winds down his window and asks them to leave - they usually do. But it is annoying.

I've never done it

only when I have dd with me .......she has a BB

I have a blue badge and it's a real bugbear of mine. I see it a lot at my local retail park and there's no one "type" that does it, either - someone aged around 50 going to the cash machine opposite; a group of very young people blaring music and (I'm assuming) waiting for a friend to finish work; an older man reading the newspaper while his wife shops. Some people are just determined to park as close to their destination as possible, no matter what.

I have also had plenty of people glaring at me, "subtly" checking my badge or gawking as I pull up and put my badge on the dash. On one memorable occasion, a woman saw me indicate to pull into a disabled space and she went and stood in it so I couldn't park

No I don’t do this. However it does annoy me to see a packed car park with rows of empty disabled bays!

Yes. Some people are incredibly selfish and/or lazy.

Why?

I do but I have a blue badge. I also park in parent and child spaces if they're closer or the bb spots are full.

Never have done, never would, but I agree that empty spaces in an otherwise busy car park can be irritating.

Why do you think? I’m going round in circles trying to find a space, meanwhile there’s 100’s of empty disabled bays sitting empty.

We’ve only had our badge for a year or so and haven’t had any of this. I probably wouldn’t notice someone reading the paper in the car though. Perhaps he was waiting for the badge holder? I’m so grateful for our badge I honestly wouldn’t mind waiting for a space for us it’s such a change from our experience without.

@OlleOskiFelle

It is irritating the rows and rows of more often than not empty disabled spaces, particularly when you're trying to find a place to park.

Why so many? Sometimes I think surely there could be fewer as they are empty a lot of the time.. well when I'm parking anyway.

Maybe it needs to be a certain percentage of the car park as disabled spaces, does anyone know?

Looks like it's just a recommendation. No legal requirement.

Government guidelines (Inclusive Mobility published by DfT) recommend that 6% of parking should be allocated to disabled people, unless otherwise covered by local planning regulations. The guidance also recommends how to identify these spaces, with special markings and signage.

From britishparking.co.Uk

Because in many (not all) places the number of disabled bays far outweighs the need for them. At my local station, the (always packed) car park recently had the number of blue badge spaces doubled, when the existing ones were never full anyway. Apparently it was a legal requirement according to the staff member I asked. The same in the multi storey car park where people circle around for somewhere to park, when there are many free blue badge spaces. My husband has a Blue Badge, btw.

@watcherintherye

There's no legal requirement, I just looked it up.

No, never. When my DD had a blue badge I can honestly say I never used it if she wasn't in the car/being collected either. I've got a perfectly functioning body, I can walk from further away.

I've done this once in my entire life, when I'd had surgery and could barely walk DH parked in one to pick me up.

We used the space for about 20 mins and there were about 6 other empty disabled spaces.

I have never been anywhere that has 100’s of disabled bays, never mind them all being empty 🙄

In a supermarket car park, there 100’s of regular bays, maybe 10-20 disabled bays … pretty unfair odds.

My dd has a bb and it irritates the hell out of me when we can’t park in a disabled bay when cars are there with no bb. Non disabled people have many many more bays than disabled people do, so flipping use them!

When picking up DS from an activity, it's a choice between parking on double yellows, paying £2.50 flat charge in a nearby car park every time or a row of 12 BB spaces that are always 90-100% empty. In that circumstance I do use them but I never leave the car /(DS comes out alone) and would never occupy one if there were no others free.

From Transport Scotland's guidance:

"If you are not getting out of the vehicle, you should not use your Blue Badge to get a parking space."

"If you are a passenger, someone else can use your Blue Badge to drop you off or pick you up. If you are a passenger and the driver is remaining in the car, the badge must be removed from the vehicle and the driver should park in a non-disabled parking space."

To be fair, I only noticed the man with the newspaper because I pulled up next to him; I don't go prowling along rows of cars, checking for badges. Similarly, I only noticed the group of teenagers because they were parked next to me when I returned to my car. Windows down, music blaring, lots of laughter - it was hard not to notice!

Why?

Both are talking out of your bum hole. Nowhere has 100's of blue badge spaces.
My nearest large supermarket has 10 that are nearly always full. The train station has 4 that are always full by 8am Monday to friday.do our nearest out of town shopping centre has twice as many parent and child spaces as blue badge spaces.

Never ever ever.

Never, even though I can’t walk far.

It doesn't annoy me but I do agree with the observation above that there are often many empty disabled spaces in otherwise full car parks. I see it regularly at the shopping centre nearest me. It's a big centre and there is often a whole row of disabled spaces with only one or two occupied when the rest of the car park is rammed.

@Sugarplumfairy65

Just because that's how it is where you live doesn't mean it's the same everywhere!!

Certainly not my experience at any of my local supermarkets, Sainsburys always have at least 2 rows of empty disabled spaces whenever I'm there, the same with our local Tesco.

So it's you that's actually talking out of your bum hole 🕳