to love this disabled parking idea?

[Kladdkaka]

Because of this issues with non-blue badge holders parking in disabled spaces some Swedish municipalities are now replacing the usual disabled parking signs with ones that include the words 'LAZINESS IS NOT A DISABILITY'. I love it :o

LRD, I agree.
Disability has come as a shock to me, and as time goes on, I see that people just don't understand.
You can't see what's wrong with me, and so far, I don't use a wheelchair.
I wish people would understand that 'disabled' isn't anything, it doesn't mean anything and it doesn't look like anything.
It varies, from person to person, but is very real, and never chosen.

It used to be the case that most local councils had radar keys too. We got ours via that route. Free of charge, too.

DD1 still gets looks though, even in her chair!

To go black to Blue Badges, and old man recently started chuntering when I pulled up in a space. Suffice it to say he stopped when I said in a loud voice 'Feel free to report me if you think I'm doing anything wrong.' Its dd2's badge and we have had this since she was little - sadly it's usually older people who for some reason think disability is confined to their age group.

That's a good one, fengirl, I'll remember it. DD1 is 15 and we often get looks or questioned, until I get her chair out of the boot, and as you say, it's frequently older people.

I think it is a great idea....don't know though how successful it would be in preventing the non-disabled from parking there. Would be nice if it pricked their conscience but I don't know if those selfish and lazy enough to park in these spaces have consciences to be pricked.

I don't see why the pp was so unsympathetic to the SIL with PGP/PSD though. I know that disabled bays are normally restricted to people with blue badges, so it is against the letter of the law, but I'd say if you have a serious mobility limitation which is too temporary to be worth getting a blue badge, (broken leg etc) I wouldn't despise you for using a disabled space..

Dilys because said SIL is a bit of a drama queen and likes to make things all about her, at no point was she in a wheelchair or on crutches it was just normal pregnancy pelvic pain which IMHO does not entitle you to park in a disabled space, pregnancy isn't a disability except in extreme cases which hers wasn't.

Ummm sorry what is the issue with using disabled toilets? Often baby change facillities are in the disabled toilet. If I am out on my own with DS1 (2 1/2) and DS2 (5 months) and get caught short then I would use the disabled toilet, otherwise I have to juggle DS2 and try and prevent DS1 opening the door in a tiny cubicle. I volunteer with a charity for physically disabled and don't think any of them would care if I used a disabled toilet for this reason

Totally agree with disabled spaces only being used by blue badge holders, and even if it isn't law, don't see why anyone without small children would use the parent and child bays either...

LRD is right my cousin has terminal cancer and has a blue badge, he gets very weak and cant walk far. doesnt stop people giving funny looks as he is quiet young.

To be clear. I was not talking about people using multi use rooms which are baby change AND disabled toilet, I was referring to disabled toilets you can only access by using a RADAR key and the people who get a key despite having no disabilities (visible or not) so they can use toilets with a radar key lock.

Don't want to cause thread to be derailed though.

In response to the OP, I love the comments on the parking areas but don't think they will put off the people who do not have a person with a disability in the car but park in the disabled bay anyway. These people are shameless and entitled and the only way to stop abuse of disabled parking IMO is to come down hard and consistently with fines.

Was there once such a thing as 'registered disabled' or is it completely made up?

No it was not made up - you used to register with your local SS - didn't really mean anything for most people.

I've been known to declare loudly that I didn't realise being ugly was a disability when a blue badge was missing.

The best disabled parking I cam accross was at a supermarket in London about 15 years ago - the disabled spaces were behind a barrier - when you came out you either produced your blue badge of paid £10

r3dh3d
Huddersfield uni did the research, over 90% of blue badge parking abuses either the car was defective or the driver/passenger was wanted for a crime.

ThePinkPussycat

Yes if someone has a badge they have a disability, even if they look like they completely healthy.

Hampshire do still have a register.

This thread makes me sad. DD1's blue badge allows us to go out. Her SN are only partly physical.

Disabilities often don't fit into nice neat boxes.

In South Africa a supermarket had a clampdown on people misusing the disabled parking spaces. A man in a pig outfit would follow the miscreant from the spaces into and around the shop. Didn't say anything just followed. I don't know if it stopped people parking but it made them a bloomin sight quicker in the shop, which freed the space up more quickly.

Might be controversial here - but in our area,blue badges seem to = 'park in the most ridiculous, often dangerous places, just cos i have a blue badge' These cars line up outside schools, blocking roads, on bends causing all sorts of chaos in a lot of cases etc.

They also fill up (dare I say) the parent/child places in the supermarkets - with the husband sitting at the wheel, reading the newspaper, while to wife goes and does the shopping! Drop her off at the door, park somewhere, then go and pick her up!

(I couldn't give a stuff where the parent/baby spaces are located - but i like to be able to open the car doors to get the kids in car seats without bashing into a neighbouring car......)

(I am not, by any means, knocking the genuine people that have a real need to own a blue badge, for mobility reasons etc........)

Why?

Going shopping if you are disabled/have disabled family member is bloody complicated enough without having to do some drop off/pick up arrangement.

Disabled people want to 'pop to the shops' too.

Round my way people seem to park in ridiculous places 'just because I have a car'
Blue badge or no blue badge if you live near or have to pass a school you will see cars parked in dangerous positions.

A blue badge doesnt mean you can park in a dangerous place. So they would get a ticket the same as anyone else.

And you dont get a blue badge unless you have a genuine reason.

"The best disabled parking I cam accross was at a supermarket in London about 15 years ago - the disabled spaces were behind a barrier - when you came out you either produced your blue badge of paid £10"

Much as that sounds fair, its actually illegal.

there is nothing wrong with parking in the {&T spaces if you have a blue badge.
it is allowed.

Do traffic wardens patrol disabled parking spaces?

I saw a bloke in Weymouth park in a disabled space who clearly was not disabled. He got out of his unmodified Jag, walked briskly round the harbour, went to lunch for a few hours at a local restaurant, walked back to his car, got in drove away. I really think unless you have a modified car and limited mobility you just don't need a disabled badge. He didn't have a modified car and he just didn't have limited mobility and I suspect it was a relative's badge.

I do have a friend who genuinely needs a disabled parking space with a modified car and it gets my goat that she might be unable to park. If she can't park she has to go home again. I don't drive so it does not affect me but there is a lot of abuse of disabled parking badges. Surely the badge should be registered on a DVLA database and fixed to the car like a car licence not just by the Local Authority area you live in?

Surely the badge should be ... fixed to the car like a car licence

That doesnt work, because it's the person who needs the badge - the badge owner may not have a car. For instance, when I took my mum to visit my dad in hospital, her badge went in my car; if a friend took her it would be in their car.

Why the modified car? I don't need a modified car for my 4 year old ds? I need enough space to safely get him out of the car and into his walking frame, and I need to park close enough to wherever we are going that he can walk there comfortably.

We don't need any extra hoops to jump through. You only get a blue badge if you need one. If you use someone else's you commit a crime. Simple.

Why modified car?
My lungs are fucked, doesn't mean I need a modified car though.
My disability is not constant either, sometimes I can walk briskly, others I can't leave the house, or am in hospital.
It still exists.

I saw a bloke in Weymouth park in a disabled space who clearly was not disabled. He got out of his unmodified Jag, walked briskly round the harbour, went to lunch for a few hours at a local restaurant, walked back to his car, got in drove away. I really think unless you have a modified car and limited mobility you just don't need a disabled badge. He didn't have a modified car and he just didn't have limited mobility and I suspect it was a relative's badge.

How do you know? FFS you don't know if he had a heart condition, cancer, a lung condition. Sorry, but not everyone with a disability has it stamped on their head.

Yes, its what you said earlier:

I wish people would understand that 'disabled' isn't anything, it doesn't mean anything and it doesn't look like anything.

You've got a blue badge because a doctor has assessed you need it. Dosn't matter what anyone else thinks. Its such a shame that badge abusers make life more difficult for people with 'invisible' conditions - talk about adding insult to injury.

Do traffic wardens patrol disabled parking spaces?

They do here in Sweden. I got 3 tickets in one day in different disabled parking bays in the same carpark. The traffic warden didn't believe my blue badge was genuine. (Admittedly UK ones do look homemade compared to Swedish ones) In the end it was kinda funny, once the stress had subsided. I rang the council and spoke to head of enforcement and she was livid. She said he'd rang her to find out whether it was ok and she'd said yes and then he'd given me tickets anyway.