WIBU to park in a disabled space?

[FairfaxAikman]

Ordinarily I wouldn't dream of it.

Our local supermarket closes off half the car park with barriers overnight to deter boy racers. It doesn't reopen until after 8am. ALL of the parent and child spaces are in the closed off side.

DS is still small enough to be in his car seat. In the past if I've arrived before 8am I've parked in a normal space but every time I've ended up with someone next to me, making it hard to get DS back in.

There is a row of 10 disabled spaces, all empty. WIBU to park in the furthest one from the shop?

Katiepoes. Not illegal in the UK if on private land i.e supermarket car park.

Sorry purple but no I don't actually. I didn't park in them. I dropped off and picked up my disabled nan and parked elsewhere on a couple of occasions.

And how is that different from anyone else just stopping for a bit in a blue badge space when they don’t have one? No badge, you don’t use the space.

Getting miffed at people using p and c spaces when they don’t “need” them while also admitting to having used a blue badge space with someone who didn’t have a blue badge.... hmm!

sirzy and purple as I said I didn't park in them I stopped for a short time.

That’s THE SAME.

*But clearly you want a fight.
No, I want people to understand that using a blue badge space without a blue badge is out of order. That’s the end of it.

And if you haven’t got a blue badge it’s a dick move to put your car in the space.

People come up with all sorts of excuses but there isn’t any. Before ds has a blue badge it would have made life much easier to park in one, or drop him off with another adult in one but I didn’t because I understand that the rules are very clear!

If a person with a blue badge had come along they would have had to wait a couple of minutes.

That is exactly the justification that people who are using a blue badge space for ANY reason give. You were in the wrong here.

If she didn’t have a badge she wasn’t entitled to use it!

And she was entitled to use it anyway. We just didn't know how the rules work.

No, she did not have a blue badge.

The reason people are suggesting we get rid of P&C spaces is because parents now feel like they can't park without them! Yes I have a washing machines, yes I use it regularly, if it broke I wouldnt wring my hands and get worked up, I'd either fix it or hand wash. Parents have the choice of campaigning or deal with it. But many don't. They get upset and abuse the facilities legally provided for people who have a genuine need. P&C spaces are great and I do use them if they are available because why wouldn't I! If they were not available I just park elsewhere. I have had to put my DS back in the car via the boot before. I have had to ask someone else to reverse my car out for me. So yes, get rid of them. Once again it's the few ruining things for the many.

Wow this thread is all kinds of crazy. Good to see that dropping off a disabled person in BB space (who does have a BB now) is viewed the same as a parent parking there for 2 hours because they have a child.

Nobody has said that. I am talking about your use of a blue badge space when you shouldn’t have been using it and your rank hypocrisy is telling others not to do that.

Most supermarkets have a drop off zone just outside the entrance which can be used instead of taking up BB space.

P&C spaces are rather a nice luxury that were available when I had my last child but not my older ones. I made use of them when my son was tiny .Unbelievable to hear that some people put the requirement for them on a level with Blue Badge holders.

Morning, everyone. Just popping in to say we have deleted a few posts on this thread that we felt amounted to disablism. If anyone is interested in reading around the subject a bit, here's a link to our This Is My Child campaign.

Blahblahblah111

As *HiHoToffee has so rightly pointed out,
Most supermarkets have a drop off zone just outside the entrance which can be used instead of taking up BB space

To which I'd add whilst picking up and dropping off someone who does not have a Blue Badge

Which part of this do you not understand? The Blue Badge spaces are only, ever, for people who have a Blue Badge.

Just because you think someone is "disabled enough" to need dropping off and picking up from a BB space when they don't have a BB, that doesn't make it right or acceptable. It's not your decision to make.

All these parents with twins unable to go elsewhere or park over two spaces.

I have twins - I got them in through the boot or parked at the back or over two spaces - or on more that one occasion, went elsewhere. I also went elsewhere as they’d failed to provide twin trolleys.

I found this regarding those talking about ‘proportionality’ - I think we have to trust that the guidelines have been written after doing an assessment rather than an arbitrary number being picked. It’s not realistic to say that between X and X times the spaces are available because we tend not to see much traffic from disabled patrons. It’s also not right.

www.planningni.gov.uk/index/policy/planning_statements_and_supplementary_planning_guidance/dcans/dcan11/dcan11_car_parking.htm

I don’t disagree with the issue over BB spaces but I do think there are ways to be sensible, specifically in the OP’s situation.

For thise saying they dragged their babies out via the boot of their car...good for you. We all did things like that BEFORE people recognised that there’s a better way of planning a car park! Change is good

Hopefully the supermarket will agree with the OPs sensible suggestions and make a few tweaks.

Diana. In England the ratios are slightly different to NI and the document actually says that ‘parent/toddler’ spaces should be based on the same as disabled access parking spaces.

Which kind of supports what the OP was suggesting in that there should be access to those spaces before 8am (not that it’s ok to use a BB space)

Genuine question if there is guidelines on how many BB spaces must be provided, which is this store allowed to rope off half of them (along with all the P&C spaces) before 8am?