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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To get the rage and not understand this attitude re blue badges

55 replies

Topttumps · 26/04/2019 07:41

I was reading a post on another site concerning blue badges.
During the discussion several people couldn’t understand why parking was free in car parks for blue badge holders. They felt it should be done on ability to pay as many “disabled people” work.
Aibu to get the rage about this. This is wrong on so many levels. After all having a disability has extra costs and not all car parks are free. Plus I am sure most people would rather be healthy or not have a disability and pay to park.

OP posts:

havingtochangeusernameagain · 26/04/2019 11:19

It's not exactly easy to get a blue badge, they don't give them away, so I don't have a problem with free parking. Not sure I like the parking on yellow lines thing though, it can cause mayhem and if there's a car park it's much better parking in one. I have a relative with a blue badge and sometimes I get the impression she parks in certain places because she can, and I would feel uncomfortable, not least because traffic wardens hate blue badges and try to catch you out if they can so I wouldn't take any chances.

Thelovecats85 · 26/04/2019 11:23

It's only free on council parking, multi storey private parking you still have to pay. Which is a piss take as most shopping centres the private car park is closer.

So you have a choice of park for free but have a long walk. Or pay £6 that you can't really afford out of your dla/carers allowance and be close to the shop.

Thelovecats85 · 26/04/2019 11:26

Personally I would rather extend the blue badge scheme, increase number spaces and drop free parking if need be but I know others feel differently.

The free parking can mean the difference from getting out the house or not for some.

I don't think the blue badge should be extended. But I think they could consider a second tier badge. Maybe a green badge that just give free parking or a yellow badge that just gives wide access space.

DGRossetti · 26/04/2019 11:31

It's not exactly easy to get a blue badge, they don't give them away, so I don't have a problem with free parking.

The problem it, it's an incentive for cunts.

One reason why Birmingham introduced charges for some BB spaces was after a solicitor was found to have defrauded them on nearly £100,000 over 6 years by using a relatives BB to avoid paying for parking in the city centre.

Personally, my biggest gripe about BB parking is that it will be the very first to disappear when there are deliveries, or builders on site. With no shred of consideration for making alternative arrangements.

Last Xmas, the police decided to occupy all 20 BB spaces around Victoria Square in Birmingham. No other spaces were allocated, so that was a good evening out.

ILoveMyCaravan · 26/04/2019 11:33

Not all car parks are free. I have a bb and have no option but to use my car when I want to go out. I don't have the choice of getting a bus or walking. I also need longer than most to get around so my parking fees would be higher anyway. So if everywhere charged for parking I would be significantly worse off than an able bodied person who had other options.

MRex · 26/04/2019 11:33

YANBU. Offer to remove a couple of their limbs to see if they find it easier to park and get around?
(Not all disabilities involve limbs of course, just trying to make it easy to understand.)

Janedoughnut · 26/04/2019 11:34

Natasha4767

I'm pretty sure they're only allowed to do that if it's the disabled person who gets out of the car.

Thelovecats85 · 26/04/2019 11:35

Don’t even get me started on being glared at by elderly blue badge holders who think that nobody under 70 can possibly be disabled.

Tell me about it, old people seem to think they have the monopoly on bb spaces.

But what drives me nuts is people parking in the disabled spaces and waiting for people.

The other one is granny sat in the car while driver nips into shop. Which is misuse as you can only use the space if the bb holder is getting out the car.

NicoAndTheNiners · 26/04/2019 11:36

Some people are proper bonkers. Like others have said most able bodies people have the option of walking, getting a train or bus or cycling somewhere. Which disabled people don't.

Blue badge parking used to be free at our hospital but now they're charged the same as anyone, seems unfair to me. Especially as they're more likely to have more frequent hospital appts.

ellendegeneres · 26/04/2019 11:36

I appreciate the free parking my bb brings. It means me (and a carer) can park safely in a supermarket, get out my mobility aids and I can feel normal and choose what items I’d like and be out and about for the first time in a while, whilst also allowing me the additional time needed to shop due to the slow speed I move at.

Being disabled is expensive, a free parking spot is a godsend sometimes

Sockwomble · 26/04/2019 11:36

The blue badge scheme certainly needs looking at with the current situation of it being possible to be a wheelchair user but no blue badge or having severe enough autism etc to have enhanced pip but no blue badge ( although that does look like it is changing) being wrong.

Sirzy · 26/04/2019 11:39

For those who are paying hospital parking check if they do “frequent fliers” we pay £30 for three months at our local hospital which saves a fortune.

(Shouldn’t have to pay but that’s a whole different thread!)

Sockwomble · 26/04/2019 11:43

The only place we get free parking is at the hospital but you are lucky to get one of the spaces so we usually end up parking on a nearby road ( not double yellows) because there isn't enough space in an ordinary space.

Notinmyduty · 26/04/2019 11:44

Which is misuse as you can only use the space if the bb holder is getting out the car. Or getting into the car! I'll have to face scowls from people next week while I pick my mother who has a blue badge up from the airport - I will have no badge as she travels with it...but she sure as hell can't walk.

MontStMichel · 26/04/2019 12:01

IMO, there should be a temporary category whereby people got a badge of a different colour for 2 months after hospital admission/treatment affecting mobility such as:

Major surgery
Fractures involving hip, pelvis, leg requiring the use of a wheelchair (I am not a doctor so I am not sure of the details of how long people are in hospital for and mobility immediately after discharge)
Hip/knee replacement
Cancer treatment like a course of chemotherapy (again I can only assume people are wiped out by these from what others have told me)

GreenEggsHamandChips · 26/04/2019 12:01

The other one is granny sat in the car while driver nips into shop. Which is misuse as you can only use the space if the bb holder is getting out the car.

Actually not being able to do this really pisses me off. DS has a fair wallop of issues, one of which means he collapses if he gets too tired. So when hes too tired i cant park him in the Blue badge space that is close enough to maintain intermittent visual contact because thats BB abuse but getting him out to walk might just tip him over the edge. I also can't went hes I'll stick him in the car, park using his BB in visual sight at the pharmacy, grab medicine and leave, because thats also BB abuse

I'm pretty sure they're only allowed to do that if it's the disabled person who gets out of the car.

Not abuse if the Blue Badge holder is getting in.

GreenEggsHamandChips · 26/04/2019 12:03

Sorry that should read

I also can't, when hes ill, stick him in the car, park using his BB in visual sight at the pharmacy, grab medicine and leave, because thats also BB abuse.

spidersonmyceiling · 26/04/2019 12:06

I've experience of blue badge use because of elderly and ailing parents, one of the reasons you need a bigger space is so you can get equipment out, and be able to open doors as wide as possible to get a person who needs help out, and also so you are nearer the place you are going to, so it's a shorter journey if the person is trying to walk. And being able to park in places you are not normally allowed to park in too can be a real advantage. But if I am out with my Mum and she doesn't want to go into the shop/whatever, I'll just park in the nearest car space. I watched a lady with a hoist in the back of her car the other day getting out a mobility scooter, needed a lot of space to do that, but it meant she could shop in the town centre independently, brilliant.

I do wish sometimes that there could be some leniency for temporary disability though, at times I've been unable to walk far, and when I have my surgery I'll also be restricted in how far I can walk/need space to get a wheelchair out.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 26/04/2019 12:09

@Greeneggs, thanks for the info, I actually didn’t know that was the rule (and I have a blue badge). That sounds really frustrating in your situation though .

UrsulaPandress · 26/04/2019 12:14

GreenEggs I wouldn’t see that as abuse if the badge at all.

GreenEggsHamandChips · 26/04/2019 12:17

its a case study on the official info. I reread the information much more carefully after i was fined because I didnt know you couldnt park on double yellows where there was a yellow double stripe on the kerbstone. id much rather car park now if possible.

Now the one that puzzles me is if you park the car in the BB slot on the assumption that you will be picking up the BB holder, only then to find you have to move the car eg the BB holder is stuck somewhere ate you have to "rescue" them. Technically the BB holder wasnt getting in or out, but you had no way if knowing at the time. I have also been in that somewhat embarrassing situation.

UrsulaPandress · 26/04/2019 12:38

Or if I park in a B.B. space with dd but we separate and I get back to the car first and have to wait for her, officially I suppose I should move the car but then she wouldn’t know where I was parked. It’s a minefield.

Thelovecats85 · 26/04/2019 16:43

@UrsulaPandress

I think in that situation you stay in the space as the car is being used for the bb holders journey. It doesn't matter that your not together the whole time.

5foot5 · 26/04/2019 16:49

Never really thought about until the Easter weekend.

We had PIL staying. MIL has a blue badge now and over the weekend we had a wheelchair for her. We found it invaluable that we could park in wider spaces that were more conveniently located. It was an unexpected bonus to us that the parking was also free. We could easily afford the parking but the convenience of the space was the main thing.

BogusBollocksCraps · 26/04/2019 16:49

I offer quibblers a choice, pay for parking because you don't have a blue badge OR get to have easier parking with a blue badge and you get the added bonus of never walking again and spending all your waking hours in varying levels of constant pain and discomfort.

I know what my choice would be.

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