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AIBU?

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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:
ExitPursuedByATroll · 30/08/2011 19:57

But Pag your house is so lovely. Who could possible object to stopping there?

Oh yes, an arsehole.

unfitmother · 30/08/2011 19:57

Sadly, there's a lot of them out there.

cleanandclothed · 30/08/2011 20:05

I have actually been a passenger in a car when the driver parked in a disabled bay 'oh I have the badge for my sister' (who is severely disabled but was not present) 'so we can just park here'. I was so gobsmacked I didn't say anything and have kicked myself for this ever afterwards. Can anyone think what I could have said? She did drive her sister so obviously knew how vital the spaces were. Just one of those people who thinks rules don't apply to her I suppose.

aliceliddell · 30/08/2011 20:34

Suggested comment 'Would you like the disability that goes with this parking space? They only come as a matching set'

2shoes · 30/08/2011 21:22

wow there are some nasty people out there, taking the piss out of disabled people and parking in disable bays with no disability. glad I believe in Karma

alemci · 30/08/2011 21:29

I don't begrudge them at all. I wouldn't want to be in their position and am grateful for my health.

I was parked in Tesco's the other day, waiting for a while for my dd's who were shopping. I was disgusted when I observed non blue badge holders parking in the disabled bays. Some people are very selfish and inconsiderate.

NotFromConcentrate · 30/08/2011 21:42

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but how does the type of space you park in change the fact that you either have to lock your baby in the car whilst you return your trolley or take them with you whilst you do it? Surely if youare parked in a P&C space you still have to return your trolley? Ive never known a supermarket to have only one trolley bay, so I can't imagine that the only place in the whole car park to return your trolley is right by the P&C spaces

Also, it's a parking space. Really. What do you do if you go somewhere which doesn't have P&C spaces. You manage, right? So it's a PITA squeezing car seats and babies out between cars, but it's not insurmountable. Life is short, and getting in a tizzy over a parking space seems a bit of a waste of energy.

borderslass · 30/08/2011 22:14

So it's a PITA squeezing car seats and babies out between cars
Was easier years ago the baby carriers where around but we just got 2 way car seats from birth-approx 4 years we managed without any stress or P&C spaces. The sense of entitlement today just stuns me.

Jux · 31/08/2011 00:06

DH persuaded the Council to put a white line outside our house. I have no idea how he managed is, as we have off road parking for 2 cars, if not 3. It doesn't say disabled and is definitely not enforceable.

I think he wanted it so we could get out if he needed to take me or mum to hospital in a hurry (I do have a BB). People still park there though, right across our drive, blocking us in. You'd think people wouldn't park across a drive, really though, wouldn't you? There are double yellows on either side of it and we're so close to a roundabout that it's unsafe to park there anyway. People still do though.

Just goes to show how thoughtless (and stupid actually) people can be.

realhousewifeofdevoncounty · 31/08/2011 00:10

YABVVVVUUUU OP. Actually you will find that a blue badge holder is in fact allowed to park wherever they like, including double yellows, as long as they are not causing obstruction/danger. So you have to push your bugaboo a few extra yards? My heart bleeds.

Claw3 · 31/08/2011 08:42

Notfrom, very good point!

I went shopping yesterday and the whole car park is under cover anyhow, so you can walk from car, to trolley, to shop without even seeing the sky. I thought most of the big shops were under cover too.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 31/08/2011 08:48

Our local icecream van driver thought she would use OH's BB space as a handy and regular spot.

He goes to work at 4.30 and she comes round just after.

Call me petty but I thought it was a bit of a bloody cheek and told her to get off out of it.

Its bad enough that she sits outside my house for 20mins with that bloody generator running. Feck me if she was going to do it in my OH's parking space.

And dont get me started on the wanky builder who is working next door who thinks 'its only for a while' is a good enough reason to park in OH's space if he is every out of it during the day.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 31/08/2011 08:50

I dont even bother looking for a P&C space anymore. Now my youngest is 17mths. It was handy when I had newborns but even then not crucial.

Now I park in a quiet part of the car park next to a trolley park. Being next to a trolley park is far more useful to me than a wider space near the front.

TandB · 31/08/2011 08:54

MrsDeVere - the only option is clearly for you to spend any free time you happen to have lying full length in the space to prevent anyone from using it.

If anyone challenges you then you can pin your DH's BB to your chest and he can sit on you.

If you don't have time then your DCs will have to form a rota.

Riveninabingle · 31/08/2011 09:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

aliceliddell · 31/08/2011 10:40

mrsdevere Yes, 'only for a minute' is always a good and valid reason to let us see the space is taken, go somewhere much more inconvenient, spend ages arsing about with inadequate space, then see them leave because it was 'only for a minute'.

LifeHope11 · 31/08/2011 21:23

I have a disabled child of 10 years who is currently bedridden, the remark by what is clearly someone who is "clueless" should try and look after him for a day and really appreciate how truly ignorant those remarks are. But then she would not cope anyway. Think please before you post uninformed remarks which cause offence to those parents trying to raise children with special needs and facing enormous challenges in doing so, the least I would expect is for us not to be subjected to thoughtless criticism like this. If you are unable to be supportive to parents of disabled children then please do not post remarks on this site.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 31/08/2011 21:30

I am sorry to hear that your DC is bedridden life

I hope that things improve soon.

2shoes · 31/08/2011 21:36

thefirstMrsDeVere in our old house we had a bay outside , the neighbours were brill and never parked in it(one even asked if she could borrow it for a visiting relative when we were awaylol) yet I often had to chase taxi drivers out of it(whilst parking on double yellow lines myself)

thefirstMrsDeVere · 31/08/2011 21:55

I had to laugh when my neighbours had a vistor who did have a BB. They insisted on parking in OH's space whilst he popped out despite there being an empty place right outside the house they were visiting.

We didnt complain. We thought it was funny. Personally we avoid using spaces that are obviously 'personal' although we know you can use them. If we had to we would - if it was for an emergency or something - but I cant think of what offhand.

This couple seemed to feel that they should use it 'cos it was there' despite it meaning a longer walk for them.

It would have been even funnier if the other spaces hadnt been taken by the time OH got back and I had to go and park the car for him up the top of the street.

ho hum.

thefirstMrsDeVere · 31/08/2011 21:57

Just to add - there are no parking restrictions where we live.

We dont generally have problems with 'our' space. Except when it snows and people park without realising.

LifeHope11 · 31/08/2011 22:12

MrsDeVere, thank you. We hope that DS will be up & about soon.
We have a disabled bay in front of our house, neighbours do not park there but we do get estate agents, builders etc using it. So we call their companies direct to complain, this embarrasses the offending drivers.
Re disabled bays in supermarkets etc, we regularly find these abused and taken up by non-BB holders, this enrages me as we rely on these spaces. The other day we found a car in the disabled bay with a note stuck to the windscreen 'Sorry no P&C bays free'- sorry that's just not good enough. These selfish people may be a minority, but there are still enough of them to make life very hard for those of us who rely on the disabled spaces to get around.

2shoes · 31/08/2011 22:21

LifeHope11 omg so someone really took up A disabled bay as they had a baby.... that shocks me, tbh I would have complained and got the store to make them move,

Thumbwitch · 31/08/2011 23:31

LifeHope that just demonstrates that some people view P&C spaces as a right as much as a disabled space; not as the courtesy it is. Perhaps then they should be removed so people stop having such an abysmal sense of entitlement (this phrase is starting to annoy me slightly but there really isn't any better way of describing it!) over them.
Actually, I'd like to see supermarket carparks patrolled by wardens who could ticket inappropriate users of disabled spaces. That's about the only thing that might stop the selfish ones.

Spero · 01/09/2011 06:55

Thumbwitch I completely agree. I think because p and c spaces are painted and look all official, this has somehow crystallised in the minds of the selfish that they now have 'rights' on a par with the disabled. I would remove them completely.

The real issue seems to be the fashion now for driving enormous cars which don't fit into standard car park spaces. But again, I see that as just another sad example of the witless selfishness of some people. You don't need a 4 by 4 to get to a supermarket unless you happen to be driving from your remote hillside farm.

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