To have parked in a disabled spot today

[AuntiePickleBottom]

my mum recently broke her leg, she has a full cast on, I took her food shopping today so parked in a disabled bay as there is no way my mum could of used crutches far or get out of a normal spot, my mum used one of the wheel chairs supermarkets offer for the customers.

id say it would be fine to park in them for someone with a broken leg

thats really what they are for when you cut all the nonsense out - to help people who arent able to walk too far

Seems to be a " more disabled than thou " game going on here - not good.

The definition of disabled for blue badges includes the words 'permanent'. If it ain't permanent, you ain't disabled. Don't believe me? Park your car in the disabled bay outside your nearest police station and take it up with them.

You're right re blue badges being the only way to park legally somewhere usually no parking on the highway. However, in a private car park the situation is less clear cut and the supermarket here (or whichever private individual runs the car park) would have discretion to allow someone with a broken leg to park here. I certainly think they would have been unreasonable not to exercise the discretion in favour of the OP and her mother in this case.

I dont really think you are being unreasonable in this case.
And I have 2 blue badges having 2 SLD children. But if i saw you struggling with your mum and needed extra space i would probably offer to help or at least pass over my disabled space to allow you one and your mother needed the door wider open to get in and out.
That's just me though.

Kladd I don't know if that has changed then cos a few years ago a friend of mine had a slipped disc and she got a BB for the duration while she was healing (a year or so). I think it also depends on the council where you live re rules and regs.
some of them are so strict while others use their common sense occasionally!

Kladd, dear Kladd, I admire your persistence . . . I wonder if there is anyone on the forum who could design a piss-into-the-wind emoticon. Or rather two, I suppose, male and female created He them :o

Andrew - I think most of us appreciate the points Kladd (and others) are making. Of course dealing with a disability day in day out forever is a major pain in the backside not comparable to a temp condition. Also turning up somewhere to find the disabled spaces full must be a complete nightmare. Therefore most people would not dream of parking in a disabled space for almost any reason. However, in this case most of us can appreciate that OP and her mum would have really struggled to do the trip without using a disabled space to the extent it would have been virtually impossible. We therefore think some leniency should have been shown by the owners of the car park. I think to say your "pissing in the wind" is wrong - we hear and appreciate the arguments being made but think this difficult case falls into the category of reasonable exception.

"No, only owning a large 4x4 entitles you to park on the zigzags outside school"

As I thought. In this case it is a black cab (with no badge) who stops on the zigzags or parks in one of the designated disabled spots. Now, he is dropping off a child (with their mother who he then waits for) who is clearly entitled to a disabled badge but it is never displayed. I want to report the twat for the zigzag parking though.

Anyhow, I still maintain that you would have to be spectacularly lacking in compassion to complain about someone in a full leg cast using a disabled parking spot. Legalities aside. I mean WTF is the world coming to when you begrudge someone something they need just because their condition isn't permanent?

You can drop most non driving disabled person (not children/learning difficulties obviously) at the door and go back for them just like you recommend the OP does.

This is a completely different scenario to someone with children, or pregnant or someone with a big/fancy car or someone too fat to use an ordinary space.

Andrew I managed to resist until page 6, so I'm getting better. I put it down to anticipation of today's shopping trip which I've been putting off for weeks due to disabled parking issues at this particular shopping centre. They keep giving me tickets even though I do have a blue badge. They think I made it myself. :o (It's a UK one and compared to a Swedish one, it does look homemade.)

SoupDragon so are you suggesting people like me or riven, just drop our children off and go and park?
can you not see how silly that statement is?

Only park in a disabled bay if you have a blue badge. If you don't park as close to the entrance as possible. Alternatively, if you are using the store's wheelchair, inform customer service about the situation and I am sure they would be happy for you to use the disabled bay :)

Can I reiterate the difference between a private car park and a council owned one? If you get a 'fine' from one of the companies employed to manage private car parks it has no legal value whatsoever and is basically an invoice that you can ignore. See www.pepipoo.com/ for more information. You should not even acknowledge the 'fine' they are completely unenforceable. Councils are the only ones who can enforce parking fines.
This means that a disabled spot in a private car park is a courtesy that is unenforceable in law. Most people wouldn't dream of using one, quite rightly, of course.
I personally think the op was on dodgy ground if a blue badge holder had needed the space they were using.

I've got a blue badge. Don't mind people with plaster casts using spaces. HTH

As a quick hijack... Does a disabled badge entitle you to park on the zigzags outside a school?

No it doesn't. You can park for up to 3 hrs on double yellows as long as you aren't causing an obstruction.

I had a lady come to my work the other day who wan't to show me a letter proving her disability. I kindly didn't read the letter and explained that she was welcome to park in the disabled bay as they are not legal bays on the highway but in our own carpark.

We want her to be happy when she visits us and if it is easier for her to park in a disabled space then that is fine if she is in need at this time.

In private car parks it is not a legal requirment to have a blue disabled badge and the store, office or whatever building can make their own rules up - if of course they want the custom and display them if there are penalties.

On the highway is a different matter

It is difficult - I had a very similar situation to the OP recently, mum broke her leg and had been in a cast and was on crutches. Only difference is, I have a blue badge. Once we had wrestled my wheelchair out the boot and got her crutches out, we went to a few shops. The irony was after a few minutes, mum was tired and had to sit down, so I wheeled about and did the shopping.
So not sure what I think about this any more...

iF YOU NEED THE SPACE I REALLY DON'T SEE THE PROBLEM WHETHER IT IS PERMANENT OR NOT.

So what happens when all these people with temporary disabilities decide to park in disabled bays where the fuck do people who really need them park.

Just a hijack, but PeachyWhoCannotType how exactly do you cope with going to the toilet in the main toilet when you are alone and have a pram with a small baby in it, a toddler and when the only non-disabled loos are too narrow to even get the pram into the bit with the sinks? Just interested. I always just use the disabled loos if this is the case. I am not willing to leave my children outside unattended. Also, they often do have the changing tables in there too. These toilets might be wheelchair accessible but in some areas they remain mostly vacant. If there is another way or I am not alone I gladly use the normal loos, but I am not going to if there's a large empty one going spare and I have to take my young son to the loo before he has an accident and need to keep the baby with me too.