to think that being in a mobility scooter means that your excuse for abusing parent & child parking is COMPLETELY invalid rant rant rant

[flibberdyjibbert]

So I pulled up in parent & child parking, & as we were getting out, so did a car with 2 adults. I pointed out that this was parent & child parking, noted the scooter in the back of the car, & helpfully self-righteously pointed out that there were plenty (about 10 times as many) of disabled spaces a mere stones-throw away.

Them: 'Oh, but they are a long way from the store & it's a long way to go when you are disabled'
Me: Yes, well I'm ok with mine (1 & 3), but it's a long way to go with a newborn baby if you can't park here'
Them (tone of voice changes from the previous slight whine): 'Fuck off!'
Me: [stunned silence that anyone could be so blatantly rude & inconsiderate in so many ways at once]
Them: 'Go on, go away. Fuck off!'
Me: 'You are rude. You are very rude.'

So I've since established that a disabled badge means you can park wherever you like, including parent & child spaces, because these are only 'courtesy' spaces, not legally just for parents with children.

Which is fine. I have no problem with that.

But this person was using the space because it would otherwise be a long way to go 'for a disabled person'. And were then later observed by myself to be transporting themselves around Sainsburys IN A MOBILITY SCOOTER. It would have had to use an extra 2 minutes of battery to come from a Disabled parking space.

And they were SO RUDE

Must go, the chilli's burning.

Good to read OP won't be bossing disabled people with a blue badge around in future. Not a good example to pick on society's vulnerable infront of your kids, poor behaviour modelling.

Erm, at a guess, the mobility scooter was one of the in store ones. They still would have had to get INTO the store, and out again, as those mobility scooters can't leave the store.

That was my first EVER biscuit, and I've been here for years.

bobble don't have a go at OP, her children could have been mown down in the car park. Have a heart will you.

SrirachaGirl Fuck off and come try it

your should be proud, two first biscuits in one post, bravo!

Nods sagely in direction of couthymow

SrirachaGirl............Ditto.

couthy not unless the nicked it, op says it was in the back of the car.

However they have a badge, they can park where ever they want! I don't know about the scooters but most of the wheelchairs I've come across don't last long before they need recharging.

you have to pity people like the op, they are so tragic that this all they have in their sad lives, being jealous of disabled people.

Oh God, these parking threads are the herpes of MN.

then and the anti disabled people shit.
I wish mn hq would actually stick to their rules and delete the shit

I had this when I had a badge for a member of my family and parked close in a P & C as my child was also in the back. Family member was feeling to ill to trapse round and so only I got out as wanted to be close and quick. Had a mouthful from some erratic mother who said I was a "walking person" so I didnt need a badge

I told her to F* O** too and I am not surprised OP that the ones you challenged did too. Sometimes it is best to keep your nose out of other ppls business as they really dont owe you an explaination and were legally parked.

''a long way to go with a newborn baby..'' oh ffs.

Strange how the mums who have to walk or use the bus seem to cope with more than 1 child or baby, their shopping & buggies... yet some mums say they can't manage to walk more than a few feet from their car into a supermarket with their babies or toddlers.

OP & other anti-disabled proud to be non-PC posters: - one day you may get a disability through illness or an accident. I hope people will show you more empathy than you show to others.

Please remember that what is a very short distance to a non-disabled person can seem like a mountain to climb for a physically disabled person with eg. chronic pain.

Also; my best mate has a false lower leg; she takes gabapentin for phantom pain but often still suffers a lot of pain at times on the stump.

She never complains or mentions the pain, i can often only tell when she starts limping. :(
She has had to cope with a lot of nasty looks & remarks for parking in disabled spaces. Just because she is young & does not immediately look disabled to anyone who sees her.

Would you question her if the disabled spaces were taken or too far & she had to park in a P&C space??
Would you be shocked if she was then a bit rude on being questioned (considering she has disabling chronic pain which doesn't leave her in the best mood after a long day at work)??

I find it depressing how rude judgement & public demand for 'proof' of disability is somehow confused with standing up for all that is right and good... Kindness? Compassion? Humanity anyone?

Perhaps even an understanding that what some people go through is so painful, so hard that you cannot empathize, you cannot understand how 3 meters seems a mile away, or how many other people have stated and judged and tutted that day.

Has anyone brought a goat yet?

But if you are in a mobility scooter, how does it cause you more difficulty?

Hope / pray / sacrifice the goat (if there is one yet) that you never find out from personal esperience.

And to confirm what latara has pointed out to all the unpleasantly smug and disablist people posting on here - dont judge disabled people like they are 'the other', i was one of you once, i was your friend, your colleague, your sister, your aunt, but for the luck of the dice, I could even be you. I am not a monster, I am not a scrounger, I am not 'the other'. Nor is any other disabled person. Do you know how much it hurts when you treat us like that? Do you even care?

I took it for granted being healthy, being human, being one of you. II was successful, a professional, married, good wage, good social life, degree, traveling all over the world, paid my taxes, gave to charity, had a busy busy life... I was pretty & nice and funny... Then I got ill. Within months everything changed.

Now I have to fight everyday to be seen as human, to be 'allowed' to live & eat & wash & kiss my child goodnight. I am isolated & an outsider. I have to beg for the things you take for granted. I have to justify myself to you and people like you when I step foot out of my front door. Nothing, absolutely nothing is easy, and that's not just because of my body, it's because of you.

I see how people like you now shuffle away, or judge me, blame me, look for any way to ease their conscience and their fears... It happened to her because, because, because. Life can't be that random, that cruel, that meaningless right? Otherwise you might have to realise it could happen to you, you are not protected, you are not immune to a hidden gene, a rogue bacteria, a brake failure, an electrical fault, or even simply time.

But it's easier to close your eyes and pretend you are isn't it? Pretend it can't happen to you, blame the disabled, the old, the infirm. Its the only way you can cope. But it's the first step in alienating us, me. The first step to judging, deciding what our lives should be, and if we're not one of you, then it's easy to say we don't need what you need, we don't feel what you feel, we don't deserve what you have.

So for you it's righting a wrong... How dare that nasty disabled person park near you! For that person, or latara friend, or me, meeting you would be just another chip off the ability to keep on going, to try and make life bearable, to go out in public, to cope.

Alternatively, skip my rant and listen to Sashh, go buy a goat.

I don't see what the issue was in the first place. You got a space,....they got a space...everyone wins right?

Really when you think about it all anyone is ever doing in life is searching for a parking space near to the shop entrance and trying to find a pound for the trolley. And maybe another pound for the car parking ticket if you are in the Waitrose in town. Although the Waitrose in town doesn't require a pound coin for you to unlock their precious trolley. Strange that given that it is in the middle of town but that's the way things are. Anyway bottom line is only a pound is needed wherever you go and you get them both back one way or another.

This reminds me actually I have got one of those tokens the same size as a pound, I must remember to leave it in the car so I can use it for the trolleys when I don't go to Waitrose (which I'm afraid is becoming more and more often a money becomes tighter) otherwise I am left trying to lug around two baskets full of shopping as I don't have the required funds to secure the use of a trolley which limits how quickly I can shop. Normally this isn?t a big deal but sometimes when there are bargains to be had or last minute reductions to be grabbed (I told you money is tight) I have neither of my hands free until I put down a basket by which time some other smug punter with a trolley and two hands free has got their first leaving me deflated.

Anyway I seem to have wandered away from your point. Clearly it is not desirable to be sworn at and so for that I feel sorry for you but on the other hand everyone got parked so I don't see any real harm done. Instead of wasting time in the car park you should have been looking for some money for the trolley and getting all the last minute reductions you can get before they get snapped up.

whoa!! I am new to the site and just looking round.

The OP posted a legitimate grievance. I am a blue badge holder, and i hate it when people park in disabled bays without one, so why should it not apply to parent and child bays?

All those people who have turned round and said "oh but there was 10 empty spaces" think of it like this. They were all filled by people who didnt have children, and someone who did have children came and wanted to park, couldnt park in the designated bays (which are usually near the entrance so young children dont have to cross a car park where people usually drive like idiots) and one of the children gets run over?

You wouldnt like it if it was yours, i wouldnt like it if it was one of my step children, past or present.

Maybe a little compassion and understanding of others in this kind of thread is needed???

P.s. anyone else on here who wants to be abusive, and tell posters to "f* off" because they obviously dont have the basic intelligence to reply constructively, may very well pm me and have my address to try and tell me in person.

Danbhardy - you're new, you wouldn't know - this is a Hot Topic on MN, usually at least one of these threads a month. Over the years, people have mostly come to realise that disabled/blue badge holders get priority over everyone else (as it should be) so people who whinge about P&C spaces tend to get shot down in flames pretty quickly now.

In the case of this OP - first off, most carparks have the bluebadge spaces closer to the door than the P&C, don't they? Thought this was the norm, so that is a bit weird. Second, they people holding the blue badge do have the right to park where they like, but no one has the right to be so rude to anyone - although the people in that car are probably just pissed off that an entitled woman who already has a space seems to think it's ok to judge them.

Further to what danbhardy has written if anyone wants my phone number and address then please do not contact me. You are the kind of people I want to avoid. Especially at parties. Or worse dinner parties where I have to sit next to you all evening.

"P.s. anyone else on here who wants to be abusive, and tell posters to "f* off" because they obviously dont have the basic intelligence to reply constructively, may very well pm me and have my address to try and tell me in person."

Hmm... What's the parking like round your way?

LOL tethersend

LOL

Ohh the new poster thinks they are the Mafia knows about pms and all.