'Reserving' disabled parking spaces ??

[ariane5]

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?

In hindsight maybe we should have said something but as i didnt realise people did this i at first thought maybe there was a problem so we waited.

Yes, we did get a space soon after but i wasnt moaning that we couldnt park-just surprised people would stand in the way of cars to keep a space free .

Sorry Ariane, I didn't mean to offend; in your OP you said that a six year old boy was laughing and you thought he was laughing at you because you couldn't have the space they were waiting in.

No it's not normal, I think you were just unlucky. When I moan to my dh about not being able to get a space he always says 'you should have confronted them' but it's never that simple to me, I hate confrontation and people can get defensive and nasty.

he was clearly laughing at us and pulling faces-which really made me sad, hes a child and his mum was laughing too when she got out of the car. We do live in an incredibly busy area and disabled spaces are very hard to get i can only assume theyve got used to competing for them and see it as 'winning' when a situation like today happens.

I would wonder how to boy and his relative got there before the car?

Did the car drop them off in the spot, go somewhere else and then come back to park while they waited(not ok in my books)? Did the car drop them off at the entrance of the car park and the boy pushed his relative across the car park to meet the car(bizarre)? Had the boy and relative already been in the shopping centre and come out to meet the car after a warning phone call(also not ok)?

All these senarios seem wrong to me. I don't understand how the boy and elderly lady got there first/without the car and then think they are entitled to reserve a space.

I would have pulled up bumper to bumper with the pair and waited until they moved/the lady in the car moved them. I work in a special needs school and the big secret is that some people with disabilities are jerks too and will, for example, push a severely disabled 12 year old girl out of the way to get to a disabled swimming pool changing room first.

thats why i wondered was there a problem-he didnt look like he could have pushed the wheelchair i thought perhaps they were waiting for pick up but she parked, got out and off they went and their car was still there when we left, all a bit odd but just one of those things i think.

Don't think id ever do it though id be too scared somebody would just mow us down to get a space.I will just carry on trying to be polite and wait my turn-really dont want to start fighting over spaces in front of dcs.

ariane You sound like a much more patient and kind person than the driver involved or (sadly) than the boy may be as an adult. (Also more patient and polite than I am; in the above example I banged on the changing room door and demanded the woman concerned waited her turn)

it did make me cross i just know the dcs would get upset at an argument.Everything is a struggle when it comes to their illness.

Think i might just order everything online from now and never worry about parking spaces again!

I think there were probably no spaces when they arrived so old lady and boy were dropped off while mum went to look for another space, stressing about trying to get gran back into the car from a normal space. One became available and the boy had this idea. There isn't really a way that makes sense otherwise and he would have been pleased with himself for getting the space. I don't think they should have laughed at you but it might have been more letting off stress at not having to worry on way back to car and the wee boy isn't going to know about such etiquette, just that mum was stressed and he fixed it. If the adults laughed at you, that is bad manners. In their case I understand how it happened and doubt they make a habit of it.

As for happening twice, does this car park have a really annoying one-way system where you only spot spaces going the wrong way and have a circuitous drive back to try and get them? I don't think this is normal behaviour in car parks in general, there is no reason to drop people off beside spaces and then go for a wee drive about before parking in them.

yes it is that sort of system runner-maybe thats why people have started standing in the spaces-its also VERY busy. i just had never seen it before

Personally I'd have driven as far into the space as I could without running them over and then waited for them to get bored and move.

YANBU how rude!

Could they have been bagging a space to stop a non-blue badge holder parking there?

If the mum was looking for another spot (and some were avaliable as the OP found one) how did she know to come back when her son had grabbed this one?

Flossie - the op stated that the driver arrived and the family got out of the car and went shopping.

Also - it's ok for you to be driven batty by lack of parking but not for op to question an obviously selfish practise.

No she didn't, maddening, she said in the op that the 'mum' arrived and drove into the space, she didn't say anything more about their behaviour after this.
Anyway, I agreed it is unusual enough behaviour to make us think there was something else going on which we are unaware of. I'm annoyed all the time at my inability to get a disabled space at all, yet have never seen anyone 'saving' a space before.
I think the op was pissed off because they laughed, I don't think she begrudged the elderly wheelchair user a disabled parking space.

Maybe the young, pulling faces had special needs and wasn't aware that his behaviour was rude or inappropriate ?

Young boy