Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Disabled parking badges are for the designated places NOT where the hell you like

690 replies

lilmissminx · 28/08/2011 11:12

Really need a vent! Am sick to death of seeing cars parked in the parent and baby/toddler spaces just because they have a blue badge, and not a child in sight Angry The other way around and you wouldn't hear the end of it about inconsiderate parents etc. I fully agree with the need for the disabled spaces etc, but I don't like having to choose between leaving my baby locked in the car to return the trolley (especially if out of sight) and him getting totally soaked etc if I take him with me.
Disclaimer This is made more annoying for the particular store I am referring to as there are only 2 parent spaces, and more than a dozen disabled badge holder ones. Yet because the parent ones are in between the two sets, they use those and leave all the other badge spaces empty.

OP posts:
Corvax · 30/08/2011 09:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VeraCanSignChocolateAndWine · 30/08/2011 09:59

i can only imagine that there fraudsters have borrow their mum/gran/relative's BB so they can get the space. I doubt very much that they have been granted it in their own right

That is the ipithany of the very attitude that we get when we park in BB spaces! I apologise that my DH and DC are not disabled-looking enough for you/people with that opinion.

Ps he also has DLA mobility and care which is not easy to get. It took 2 years, 2 appeals, numerous intrusive medicals and specialist reports, and a tribunal to get.
Our CC doesn't issue BBs without DLA.

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2011 10:04

FGS, I was answering a direct question from Spero! I have no beef with people who have BBs, I have never seen a fraudster, we were commenting on the article MRsDV linked to!!
IF you want to get on your high horse, pick the right person to do it with! Angry

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2011 10:05

Am seriously fucked off over that. Angry. So much so that I needed to say it again, just in case you missed it. Angry

Loonytoonie · 30/08/2011 10:13

Brew for you Thumbwitch. I understand where you're coming from.

slightlymad72 · 30/08/2011 10:14

Can someone please tell me what a disabled person must look and act like.

On my list at the moment I have;

Must have some aid for walking, eg walking frame , stick
If no walking aid then you must be in wheelchair
If in wheelchair you must not be intelligent enough or have the capability to answer questions, or be able to interact with others at any level.
You must not be independent.
You must not have dignity or self respect.
You are meant to look ill.

ATM I can't think of anymore, but I am sure more will come to me later, feel free to add.
I would like to ensure that my DD(19), who has Multiple Sclerosis, fits the stereotype. Your help would be appreciated. Smile

ConstanceNoring · 30/08/2011 10:14

Really Vera I don't normally say this, but here's one of those times where you should have read the thread.

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2011 10:16

Thanks Loony. It's a shame we don't have an [irony] or [sarcasm] emoticon to make it clear when we're saying something in an ironic or sarcastic fashion, hey.

VeraCanSignChocolateAndWine · 30/08/2011 10:18

Ooh think someone hasn't had their coffee yet this morning. Wink

I was saying that that is the attitude that we have to deal with. You don't have to take it personally. Read my post I said ...you/people with that opinion mainly people with that opinion, apologies if you took it as a personal attack.

Yes it grates on me. And I would rather get on my high horse about that than be PFB about my precious DC getting wet. (and that is not aimed at anybody personally, except perhaps absent OP)

ProfessionallyOffendedGoblin · 30/08/2011 10:18

'Can someone please tell me what a disabled person must look and act like.'

You have to look like an object worthy of pity or able to be patronised.
And you have to be excessively grateful for any show of consideration.

slightlymad72 · 30/08/2011 10:21

Thanks Prof, why didn't I think of those, DD has been informed. By the end of the day she will be fully trained.

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2011 10:21

yeah, cos you said "you" - it's hard not to take taht personally. Hmm

VeraCanSignChocolateAndWine · 30/08/2011 10:22

Constance - I have read the entire thread, thank you.

Agree need sarcastic and irony emoticons.

Riveninabingle · 30/08/2011 10:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VeraCanSignChocolateAndWine · 30/08/2011 10:27

Right. Coffee poured. High horse shoved in the cupboard. Apologies given to thumbwitch. :o

Kladdkaka · 30/08/2011 10:28

slightlymad72 you daughter cannot possibly be disabled because she's not old enough. I'm not entirely sure what age you have to be, maybe 140 or thereabouts.

slightlymad72 · 30/08/2011 10:33

I hadn't thought of that Kladdkaka. She must have been faking her symptoms, the lazy caaw, I've been hauling the lazy sod up the stairs whilst she's been pretending to be immobile from the neck down. Thats why I can't get a downstairs wet room and bedroom for her, the bloody council knew she was a fake and didn't tell me.

Wait till I get my hands on her, she'll bloody wish she hadn't been born. Grin

Thumbwitch · 30/08/2011 10:34

Thank you Vera.

youarekidding · 30/08/2011 10:36

It dawned on me last night - as someone who does use P&C spaces if free - that there were p&c spaces when DS was little (abroad), I had a 3 door and a car seat that attached to the buggy.

And And And.....................here comes the important bit..............I survived as did DS. Grin

Most of the supermarkets near me have the disabled bays and P&C spaces in the same row with disabled spaces being nearer, as they should be. I have never actually spent the time, or had the inclination to look and see, if any of the P&C spaces are filled with disabled peoples cars.

And FWIW you may have seen me a few weeks ago sprint from my car, parked in disabled space, into shops. If you have seen the autistic passenger I was chasing (who's badge it was) you may not have wondered why - if you hadn't it would have looked mighty strange. Grin

youarekidding · 30/08/2011 10:43

that there weren't rather. Kinda killed the point with that mistype. Grin

TandB · 30/08/2011 10:47

Blue badge fraud is certainly a problem in some areas. I used to prosecute this exact offence for the local authority at my old firm and I was surprised at what an active black market there is in the badges. It was usually genuine badges being stolen from cars and sold to people who wanted to avoid parking charges or the congestion charge. It was occasionally people using a relative's badge to go to work or similar. Very, very rarely it was someone who had previously had a legitimate badge and who was no longer entitled so made a copy or altered the expired badge.

However, even having done this type of work, I don't think I have ever looked at someone "sprinting" from their car to the supermarket and wondered if they were actually disabled. There is a pretty simple reason for this - the black market trade in blue badges is for financial gain, not for convenience. The badges have a high cash value because they exempt the user from certain parking charges and, in some cases, from the congestion charge. All the people I prosecuted were using the badges to avoid paying these charges - so usually parked outside their home where they should otherwise have paid for a resident's permit, or outside their work. I don't think we ever had a case of someone using a stolen badge simply to gain access to the disabled spaces at their local Sainsburys!

If someone is parked in a disabled parking space with a blue badge then there is a very, very high chance that they are entitled to be there, whether or not their disability is obvious enough for the average beligerent observer's satisfaction.

ChristinedePizan · 30/08/2011 10:49

And you have to look sad at all time, Goblin. If you're smiling, then you're obviously a big fake

muminthemiddle · 30/08/2011 11:07

Good point kungfu.
Do you think it would help if everyone had to pay parking charges. I noticed that in a beauty spot we visited everyone had to pay the parking charges, which struck me as unusual.

Spero · 30/08/2011 11:10

Kungfupanda - my car was broken into twice in one week in Brixton last year. On first occasion they stole a bag of old clothes I was meaning to drop off at Barnados. But on both occasions they left the bb! I was amazed as I have also been told there is a big black Market.

But I now have a colour photo on my badge, which I didn't have ten years ago. I can only assume that put off the thieves.

Kladdkaka · 30/08/2011 11:16

No, parking charges for badge holders would not be helpful. We often don't have the option of leaving the car at home and using other transport because we need it door to door. We'd end up paying far more than able bodied drivers.