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.

This is why there needs to be more parking attendants, traffic wardens about. They can deal with these people, instead of members of the public.

People with a BB wrongly displayed get fined. The rules are very strict.

"And I spent time stopping at the side of the pavement, unloading DH and his wheelchair and then going to park up in an ordinary space, until he got a BB. It is not easy, but it is temporary."

How does that work when it is someone that can't be left alone?

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.

Not ime. DD has a blue badge. Practically everywhere we go round here, we are lucky to find one empty blue badge space. Some motorway service stations do not, imo have anywhere near 6% disabled spaces?

Yes, for a little while I did even though I don’t have a blue badge. At the time I had to wear a leg brace, due to dislocation and surgery, which made getting around really difficult (even with crutches) so DH used disabled bays when I was in the car. I also needed extra room to be able to get in and out. I had a very good reason but still got grief from people as, technically, I wasn’t allowed as didn’t have a badge.

I place disabled parking people in the same bracket as those people who hang dog shit bags from bushes.

In the same way a dog shit bag person has zero intention of coming back for their anti social stinking bag of turd, the disabled parking space abuser has zero intention of ever moving 'if someone disabled turns up'. They are just lazy bastards. I dont care if you have a car full of kids and you are just doing this or that, you are a lazy bastard teaching your next generation to be the same lazy bastards.

That’s not possible with my DD - she can’t be left alone.

Your circumstances and solutions aren’t ones that everyone else can follow.

The problem with letting people self declare their need for a disabled space is that it makes life even harder for those with a blue badge to be able to go out.

where do you draw the line? Broken ankle? Sore ankle? Headache? Tired? Can’t be arsed walking in the rain?

the idea of the badge system is to have a clear indicator of eligibility. Yes it’s far from perfect but the answer isn’t to let people decide themselves

Be careful with that.

In many places people don’t actually make a drama of no badge, but an out of date badge will catch the eye and could cause you problems.

It is a pain. I’m very vocal locally to make sure as many people as possible realise the issues people face with that length of delay.

That's OK if you can but a small child can't be left alone like that. If my little one's blue badge renewal is delayed we will be scuppered if we want to go shopping in town. I can manage most of the time in a supermarket carpark because there are often P&C spaces to be had but if we want to go into town there are no P&C spaces so we rely on blue badge ones. If people saw a 2 year old, alone in a wheelchair it would rightly cause alarm.

I have a blue badge and see this almost every time I park (or try to). It needs to be policed by means of camera, parking warden etc, and fines handed out.
If I can't get a blue badge space then I'll go for a parent and child one, but the same there too - people jump out of the car and run to the shop, no bb on display, parent and child has people without kids, all kinds of people who seem to think they are entitled to use these spaces just because they're closer to the shop door.
As I am physically disabled and cannot get in and out of the car unless I am in a wide space, then often I have to sit and wait for a spot to open up, or park at the furthest part of the car park so I can have space around me (with no guarantee I won't get blocked in). In fact I'd be fine with disabled spaces further away as long as they had the needed space, perhaps then the idle cheating bastards wouldn't use them.

In fact I'd be fine with disabled spaces further away as long as they had the needed space, perhaps then the idle cheating bastards wouldn't use them. it would render the disabled spaces useless for many people who use them though as not all of us are using them just to get in and out of the car with more room

The time Ds needs his blue badge more is when he isn’t using his wheelchair because we need to know we can get back to the car quickly and because he will tire more quickly.

if disabled spaces where further away it would make him more reliant on his wheelchair before he needs to be.

the answer to misuse isn’t to make life even harder for those who do need them.

Where we live, Asda increased the number of disabled spaces. There was a designated section of the car park near the store with about 8 - 10 BB spaces, then they also converted 2 rows of P&C spaces and moved them further down the row, meaning there are about 26 - 30 disabled spaces. The original parking area near the store is always busy, but I've never see the other areas even half full. Wouldn't park in one though.

Yes, surely most people would look at that scene and deduce that the disabled spaces were all full when that person arrived?

In fact I'd be fine with disabled spaces further away as long as they had the needed space, perhaps then the idle cheating bastards wouldn't use them

That would make them useless for me since I'm not in a wheelchair yet. Not all disabilities that qualify for a BB mean you're in a wheelchair

I'm shocked to see lots of posts on this thread where empty disabled parking bays are described as 'irritating.' This attitude disgusts me.

I'm sick if pulling up to the spaces at my local Asda, filled with people eho ate 'just using the cash machines.'

People who think it's OK to park in disabled bays with no good reason, and no blue badge, need to take a long hard look at their selfish, lazy, entitled, unsympathetic selves.

Disabled spaces further away? Makes a lot of sense.... Not

This.
My friend has a BB for photophobia. They do not need the extra space, but they need to be as close as possible to the shop doors.

There's a shop near here that has some disabled spaces at the entrance, then extra ones further back. That works really well, especially as the extra ones are above their required number.

What i had to do last year when I had to wait 16 weeks for my new badge. Only leave the house for vital medical appointments.

I have been to a few national trust places that have the usual blue badge spaces the some "limited mobility" spaces in addition that are not legally enforceable just a courtesy like parent and child spaces. I thought that was a great idea.

BBs are about parking on public not private property. Shops and other parking on private property just have their own rules.

As i saw the guy pull up. As i was walking along the path way in front of them.

Even more irritating, is when you go into the supermarket and tell security and customer services that there are 5 cars parked in disabled bays (there are only 8 bays) with no blue badge displayed … and the response is “not a thing we can do, it’s not legally enforceable“ 🙄 No amount of further discussion made any difference whatsoever.