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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why disabled parking should be free

140 replies

Lilaclion · 10/08/2011 19:38

My local council is considering making blue badge holders pay to park which has caused a certain amount of controversy, but personally I don't see why they shouldn't pay to park just like everybody else? The blue badge parking system is there to ensure an ease of access, it has nothing to do with finances.

OP posts:
unpa1dcar3r · 10/08/2011 20:02

Plenty of disabled people have massive insurace payouts after an accident that made them disabled, or recieved hunderds thousands in compensation after an accident.

There are millions more who don't.

Original poster
Lilaclion · 10/08/2011 20:03

If the blue badge is about being in poverty then it should be means tested as you cannot tell me that everybody who holds a blue badge is in financial difficulty! The point of the blue badge is to allow for easy access not for free parking.

OP posts:
ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 10/08/2011 20:03

'Yanbu, but it should be means tested. There could be a little yellow square on the blue badge if they don't have to pay.'

Oh yes, so you could announce I'm disabled and poor to the world.
Free school meals should be on yellow plates, just so everyone knows they don't have to pay?

devientenigma · 10/08/2011 20:04

I disagree about the 2 cars Prof. If it wasn't for our 2 cars, 1 being mobility I could not manage my disabled child at all.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 10/08/2011 20:04

My DD has SN but we don't get free parking. But how.can you grudge anything to people who.can't walk

unpa1dcar3r · 10/08/2011 20:06

I don't think any family should have two cars, it damages the environment.

Huh?
Ok so husband drives car to work 20 miles away and not do-able by transport due to awkwardness of location and time of starting/finishing work.
I need to take my 2 severely disabled children to an appointment. They cannot 'do' public transport.

Answers on a postcard please

bubblesincoffee · 10/08/2011 20:07

unpaid - that's why they wouldn't have to pay, obviously. Hmm

Goblin - do you really think people would go around looking in other people's cars to see whether they have paid for their space? I hardly think so. The parking attendant would have a quick look, presumably when the person isn't even in the car - job done. That's hardly announcing it to the world.

ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 10/08/2011 20:07

I was being unreasonable. Smile
This sort of thread irritates me, it is so very petty.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 10/08/2011 20:07

It's the same as for 'benefits' really, accepting that some can pay but not penalising those who can't. It's not viable to do means testing for everything, better that everybody within that group receives the free parking concession.

narna · 10/08/2011 20:08

Jeez Bubbles,im rarely shocked by anything i read on here anymore but crikey......

herbietea · 10/08/2011 20:08

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ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 10/08/2011 20:08

'Goblin - do you really think people would go around looking in other people's cars to see whether they have paid for their space?'

Yes I do. I think that there is a level of spiteful nosiness that has no limits, and that it would be worse in a small town.

ThisIsANiceCage · 10/08/2011 20:08

To make planks like you jealous, Lilaclion.

Simples.

TheMagnificentBathykolpian · 10/08/2011 20:09

Equality - in the context of, for example, disability, is not about treating people the same.

People always think that equality means treating people the same and it does not.

It it about creating equality of opportunity.

You must understand that the opportunity is the key here, not 'equality'

So, say, the opportunity is to go shopping.

Not disabled? All you need is the shop. You can choose how to get there. You can take a bus, you can walk...

Disabled? Limited mobility maybe? no sense of danger perhaps? Pain when walking say? In order for you to have the opportunity to shop - the same as someone who is not disabled, there may need to be certain inequalities - like the parking. Which is not always free, but is often free, in recognition of the lack of choice many disabled people may have as much as in recognition of any financial circumstances.

memsnut · 10/08/2011 20:10

how about chopping a leg off. then you too could get all this free stuff.

how fucking awful your life must be to begrudge a disabled person a free hours parking.

sleepysox · 10/08/2011 20:10

unpa1dcar3r Thank you. I was going to try and post something eloquent but you've said it much better than I could. Thank you.

Would add though- OP- my DS has a blue badge and I would like to say that people don't realise how expensive special needs equipment is, and so free parking is a very small compensation (not that it's actually free where I live).

DS's buggy was about £1800 and that was a cheap brand, his special food costed us over £40 per week when his sickness was at its worst, his special shoes cost £25 and seem to need changing every 6 weeks and we're having to take out a loan to change our car as his special needs buggy (which is the smallest on the market he could have) doesn't fit in our current car's boot, so we're effectively trapped at home atm. When DS was very ill we were paying over £50 per week in parking charges at the hospital, and when he was admitted into hospital we got overdrawn by about £500 due to petrol costs, buying food, buying extra bits Ds needed.

Just a small window into the life of a carer of a child with special needs. Not that this will probably give you much of an insight, or cause you to have a re think, but at least i feel better for voicing this.

ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 10/08/2011 20:10

What a sensible post TMB. Unfortunately it will fall on stony ground, but worth saying, nevertheless.

Ormirian · 10/08/2011 20:10

Because they are theiving scrounging bastards!

Tell 'em to feck off with their outrageous sense of entitlement. Tsk!
Hmm

CupcakesandTwunting · 10/08/2011 20:11

You're right, OP.

I don't see why they get to park right in front of the shops, either. Or why they even need special spaces at all, come to that. Lazy, entitled scroungers, the lot of 'em.

Original poster
Lilaclion · 10/08/2011 20:11

But how.can you grudge anything to people who.can't walk

I grudge it in the same way I grudge that ALL people over a certain age receive heating allowance regardless of wealth. I just don't see why we are paying benefits to people who's financial situation means they don't need the help. Of course if you are in a poor financial state you should get all the aid you need.

OP posts:
TheHumanCatapult · 10/08/2011 20:11

erm Just to point out i can not reach the coin slots on some of the macheines in carparks as are set to high for me .
Most carparks here you have to pay and hope someone around who can feed the dam thing for me

herbietea · 10/08/2011 20:12

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fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 10/08/2011 20:13

Pretty mean-spirited if you ask me.

Lisatheonewhoeatsdrytoast · 10/08/2011 20:13

I agree with unpa

and my god what a horrible thread

You know it seems to me that many people seem to get the hump when people are disabled and get a blue badge, it's as if people see them getting something they don't (spaces, free parking etc)

I am disabled, i have no income, i can't walk bloody far, and if i do i pay for it in pain for days, in fact i've had to drive past somewhere if i can't get a near enough space and the fact that the parking is free has never occurred to me, it's just a disadvantage and a stress trying to find somewhere to park in the first place!!

herbietea · 10/08/2011 20:15

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