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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

'Reserving' disabled parking spaces ??

42 replies

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:23

Is this allowed?

DS has a blue badge, we went to park today and the only free space had a boy, about 6yrs old and a very eldery lady in a wheelchair in middle of the space, they would not move and the boy was laughing, his mum then turned up drove around us and into the space we were waiting for? I was really angry, the dcs were in the car ds is unwell and the baby was screaming, these people thought it was funny i was really shocked.

we found another space but as we left i noticed another person standing in a space obviously doing the same thing waiting for somebodythey know to come and get the space and not letting others waiting get into it? I thought it was really unfair surely its first come first served with disabled spaces?

AIBU or is this allowed?

OP posts:

LRDtheFeministDragon · 14/07/2012 19:25

I don't think you can reserve any parking spaces, can you? If it'd been a one-off I would have assumed that maybe they were having a bit of a crisis but lots of people doing it seems strange. Isn't the whole point of a blue badge that you can park where you need to?

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:27

I have never seen it before but twice within an hour made me wonder if it is allowed-hope not as itll make it even harder to ever park somewhere suitable.the fact the first people laughed at us made my blood boil.

OP posts:

FlossieMae · 14/07/2012 19:28

Sounds reasonable to me, they were blue badge holders waiting to be picked up from accessible spaces. YABU.
I'm a wheelchair user, in case you were wondering.

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:28

no they were not having a crisis-they went off into shopping centre laughing at us.

OP posts:

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:30

really flossie?-even when others are waiting (in both cases today other people there first yet prevented from parking-they too had blue badges).

OP posts:

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 14/07/2012 19:31

Why didn't you just park across the back of their car once they'd driven round you and into the space? Then laughed at them when you came out of the shop/back to your car after doing whatever it was you were doing. That might make them think twice about using a disabled space with a wheelchair user... oh wait...

LRDtheFeministDragon · 14/07/2012 19:32

But flossie, would they need to wait in the actual space? I can understand wanting to wait nearby, and I can understand that one of the reasons someone might have a blue badge is needing to be picked up urgently. But how would they know their need was greater than the OP's need to park too?

I suppose it's possible the elderly woman had got confused.

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:32

its the fact people without vechiles are standing in these spaces to reserve them before their vechile gets there, making others unable to park, i didnt know that was allowed?

OP posts:

TidyDancer · 14/07/2012 19:32

Flossie, do you do it?

I think the OP is probably quite right to be annoyed. As a blue badge holder (or the parent of one) she was equally as entitled to that space as the laughing family, but more entitled to it at that point because her car was the first to arrive.

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:33

vehicles

OP posts:

scuzy · 14/07/2012 19:34

pull the bumper up to the wheelchair lady, get out and wheel her back, get into your car and pull into the space properly!

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:35

it was more upsetting that they laughed, and surprising to see another lady after in middle of a space not letting anyone park in it.

OP posts:

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:37

i wouldnt have wheeled her, she was very old and initially i didnt know what situation was i didnt want to upset her or the little boy-didnt realise at the time they were not as considerate though.

OP posts:

Bubbless · 14/07/2012 19:37

you cant reserve blue badge spaces by standing in them but people around my home town often do, i want to run them over
eurgh, they are so U, im in my car, with a valid blue badge, with a valid disabled person (my mother) and your STOOD in a space.. i dont care where the driver is.. they are not lining up to park therefore the space is free.

makes me very angry, i agree with OP that others are BU

Blu · 14/07/2012 19:37

'Allowed'? who is going to do anything about it? The lady clearly was rntitled tgo use a disabled space, and maybe they needed to know that whoever was driving her could park there. YOu did find another space, and in one way, they did get there befpre you.

It seems a bit cheeky, like people reserving spaces on cafes before they have queued for food, families parking one car in the middle of a two-car space on the street until their other car arrives, or any other 'bagsying' of space. It sounds as if it is a place where spaces are in short suppley so regulars have developed these tricks.

Our neighbours had a blue badge holder in the family, and used to park one of the son's cars on the street in a residents bay, using the BB, and leaving the disabled bay empty. Then when another family member arrived home they would park their car in the bay and transfer the BB to that car - it was a way of reserving a space on a very over-parked street.

Competition for scant resources, especially parking spaces, brings out the worst in people.

I wouldn't get too furious about today's experience, you did at least find a space.

FlossieMae · 14/07/2012 19:38

But you weren't there first were you? In the first incident the boy and the elderly lady in the wheelchair were waiting in the space to be picked up. Already. Before you got there.
Same in the second incident. They were waiting to be picked up.

In fact, if you think about it, the boy and the elderly lady could have been dropped off and then the driver went to park in an ordinary spot to free up a disabled space for someone else. Reversing the process when it was time to leave.

Completely unreasonable of you. And 6 year old boys and their families often laugh.

scuzy · 14/07/2012 19:40

was kidding ariane

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:40

laugh and point at us? it was obvious they found it funny, he pulled a few faces too. it really wasnt v nice and obviously directed at us

OP posts:

FlossieMae · 14/07/2012 19:42

Tidy, sorry, I'm being slow at typing, no. I don't do it as I'm the driver so I have to pull into my disabled space to park and then un-hoist my chair.
We've all read the threads about disabled parking though. As a wheelchair user I am very used to not being able to get a space due to a row of cars none of which is displaying a badge.

TidyDancer · 14/07/2012 19:43

It's a car park though, Flossie. And the OP's car was there first. It wasn't a human park with human spaces. I would agree with you if it was.

There are usually drop off and pick up points right outside the supermarket, so if they were waiting to get into a car, they should've been there, not unfairly taking up a disabled parking space.

It actually does look like, from the OP, that they were reserving a space for a car that was yet to arrive and whose driver was intending to park there for some time.

I can't disagree with the OP's feelings of annoyance at this.

TidyDancer · 14/07/2012 19:45

Oh yes, Flossie, I quite agree. I have had to use a blue badge on occasion while with a friend's child (wheelchair user).

I wouldn't have someone reserve a space though, that's entirely unfair on other blue badge holders.

Agree with you on the misuse of the spaces though, but that's another issue I think, and probably not applicable to the OP's situation.

fiftyshadesoftwattyex · 14/07/2012 19:50

They were being unreasonable

It's first come first served but only for cars (I'm a blue badge user too)

Someone did this to us once in a disabled bay (though it turned out later they didn't even have a blue badge) the guy standing there told us we couldn't park there, my DH said fuck that and kept going. He moved

FlossieMae · 14/07/2012 19:51

I disagree with the assumption that they were planning to be there for some time. If this were the case how did they get there? This assumption makes no sense.
I do agree that in normal circumstances the best thing would be to wait at a 'pick-up' point, rather than in an actual parking spaces but, given that the OP saw it twice, it seems quite likely that waiting in the spaces was, in this particular place, the only or best option.

Anyway, the OP sounds slightly paranoid and frantic, and she got a space.

I go to a supermarket every Sunday, I never get a space because of the row of cars with no badges I mentioned above. Drives me batty.

Original poster

ariane5 · 14/07/2012 19:54

paranoid and frantic? thats nice. Wouldn't you be a bit frantic if you had 4 dcs, 3 of whom have a serious genetic condition and a screaming baby?

All i wondered was if this is allowed or not as had never come across it before, yes, i was annoyed but did not know if it was a usual thing that happened.

OP posts:

MammaTJ · 14/07/2012 19:56

I am a stroppy arsed old bitch person who can be assertive. If I had a blue badge too, I would pull up in to the space and stay there, preventing the cheating queue jumping people from using it.

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