Is it unreasonable for a disabled person to park in a P and C space?

[HappybutsometimesGrouchy]

My Dh is disabled and has a blue badge. Today we drove up to our local shop which has 1 Disabled space and 1 P and C space. The disabled space was taken (by someone with no blue badge, might I add!) there is a car behind us waiting to park so we drove into the P and C space and I got out to help my dh. The woman in the car behind us rolls down her window and starts shouting obscenities at us saying we have no right to be parking there as we have no kids. I apologise to her and explain my husband has a blue badge and really needs the extra space to get out of the car. She then tells me she doesn't give a fuck, she has a child and needs the space also. I said I would move the car once I got my dh out and she charmingly tells me to 'piss right off you fat bitch' and drives on. I'm a bit shook up by at, I am not good at confrontation and she has upset me. Obviously she was BU to shout abuse at me but was it wrong of me to take the space? Happy to be told if it was.

No, your DH’s disability takes priority over P & C. Smile & ignore.

YWNBU

I don’t think there is a clear cut law about it, but even if you did have kids and needed to use it for P&C purposes, you were still there first ...

I can't tag the poster who asked, but no you shouldn't use the badge when the badge holder isn't in the car. It's for their personal use, not the car.

No, myuser you’re not supposed to use the blue badge if the holder isn’t in the car. You’re not even allowed to use it if the holder is in the car but not getting out (for example, if you were running into the chemists to collect their prescription). The rules are pretty clear when you receive your badge.

I found this interesting.

Thanks grucius that's what I thought. His wife uses a wheelchair and they have an adapted car, but everytime I've seen him at tesco he's on his own and parked in a disabled space.

YADNBU

Blue badge trumps P&C every single time.

Having children is a choice, having a disability is not.

Wow, what a charmer, abusing you & your disabled DH in front of her DCs 😏

Of course you get priority

So sorry that you met such an entitled, uncaring gobshite 💐

The disabled person has a legal right to park in a space that gives them easy access.

Parent and child spaces are merely a marketing ploy. There is no legislation that supports P&C . This is a fact which unfortunately escapes many (entitled) parents.

Disabled spaces are a legal requirement.
Parent and child spaces are a marketing gimmick by supermarkets.
The woman was a total knob.

Of COURSE YANBU. The woman sounds vile.

You should have said 'go and report me to the store manager if you think I am in the wrong. Better still, call the police.'

I know someone this happened to. She got screamed at by a huge 30-something male, for parking in a child zone even though she has a blue badge, (because there were no disabled bays.) When she said 'I am disabled' he said 'you don't look it, you just look fat, you stupid cunt.'

She saw a security guard coming over (as he had heard this bloke's loud booming voice,) and told him to go fuck himself, said the baby in his car was probably not his anyway, and that his wife looked like a dirty bitch who fucks other men.' He went cataclysmic and she just laughed at him. He screamed 'I will fucking kill you - you old cunt!'

The security guard heard only HIS outburst, and charged over. He accosted him, and threw him off the property; banning him and his wife from the store.

This woman I know didn't exactly behave impeccably, but he started it, and got what he deserved. Shame about his wife as she probably didn't deserve it.

(sorry don't know how to link!)

No you can't use a blue badge if the disabled person isn't in the car nor are you collecting them, but remember not all disabilities are visible. My dd is eligible for a blue badge because she is unable to drive for medical reasons (seizures) according to our council, in fact we didn't accept it, just the bus pass.

I don't think it was unreasonable of you to have parked there at all. She was very rude and please don't feel bad. You were even very kind and offered to move your car once DH was out.

No. I have done this when with my mother at the supermarket. I just advised the services desk and they said it was no problem

@anniehm I know there are lots of invisible disabilities so it's not something I normally would be judgey about, except that I know this particular guys adapted car is for his wife who uses a wheelchair, and she's not been with him the few times I've seen him parking in a disabled space!

she has a child and needs the space also
So she can find a normal space further away with an empty space next to it & park there. Then walk a bit further.
(And someone on another thread a day or so ago insisted women didn't hurl abuse out of their car windows!)

I see so many threads about p and c places. I can appreciate that a parent wrangling a child, or children, will need some extra space around their vehicle, but why they also have to be the spaces closest to the supermarket front door I don't know. My oh's father has a blue badge and often uses a wheelchair when he's really bad, otherwise a wheeled walker. I get really pissed off at our local supermarket because the p and c places are as I have described, with the disabled places in the same row but further away from the entrance. If I had my way the p and c places would be out of the way at the furthest end of the car park, with a footpath to get families safely to the door without having to step into traffic (which they often already have between the parking rows anyway). I have a feeling these spaces wouldn't be so popular then though.

Blue badges mean you can park anywhere as long as it’s not dangerous (within certain perimeters)

Anyone with an ounce of sense wouldn’t question someone who is disabled parking in a p and c space

Anyone - and I mean anyone - who tries to police P+C spaces regardless of their use is BU in my opinion.

It falls into it's own category of uncouthness to so much as pass a dirty look at an offender. If you can't handle parking space politics, get a home delivery pass. Ours is £36 a year, and I have not had to park in a supermarket carpark since 2016.

@TedAndLola, you put it so much better than I ever could. Bloody P&C spaces are more trouble than they’re worth.

@Myusernameismud he maybe is just being fly, but maybe he has a blue badge too. You wouldn’t be able to tell (unless you asked to see the photo on the reverse)

“ I can't tag the poster who asked, but no you shouldn't use the badge when the badge holder isn't in the car. It's for their personal use, not the car”.

Unless you’re going in to the shop to collect the disabled person: I’ve done this at services when my husband was taken in by a friend, they’d been out together in our friends car to watch a sports event, and I went in to meet them in the coffee shop and drive my husband back home in our car.
Please don’t use them if you don’t have the disabled passenger with you.
No, OP, you weren’t being unreasonable. Even if you had been, what a nasty woman.

Being the veteran of some very unpleasant people challenging me over the use of disabled spaces and m&b spaces, I no longer bother to get angry.
I just say 'if you think I'm doing anything wrong, feel free to report me'.
It usually takes the wind right out of their sails. (Dc2 is the blue badge holder, not me and is severely visually impaired.)
I then carry merrily on my way and leave them to fume... it seems to work.
I should add I don't use the blue badge without dc2 being present, of course.

As a pregnant parent of a one year old, I would much rather see a disabled person using a P&C space than the teenagers I usually witness with their parents in them.
(If your child is not in a car seat, that space isn’t for you!)
I came out of Tesco the other day, and watched a mother and daughter go to their car in a parent and child space, attach an L plate, and then the ‘child’ drove away.

Please continue to use whatever space you need OP

Nope, you and your DH were completely in the right. Disability takes priority over a child. She was clearly a nasty CU Next Tuesday. Ignore her.