ASDA Disabled and Parent Parking

[jennymanara]

Just been to ASDA with my disabled mum and I am amazed that some of the parent parking spaces are much nearer to the store entrance than the disabled parking spaces. My mum told me to just park in parent parking spaces, she always does as they are nearer to the store.
But this makes absolutely no sense. Especially as ASDA provide free scooters to use to get about their store for disabled people.
So AIBU to just park in parent parking spaces with my disabled mum as they were closer to the store entrance than disabled parking spaces?

It's the same at our Asda. Some of the disabled spaces are closer to the Costa and Greggs on the same site, so you get a lot of people park there just to use them, without blue badges. Especially workmen in their vans getting takeaway food.

This is the same in my local Sainsbury’s. It really pisses me off. I have a blue badge and proximity to the store is important as I don’t use a wheelchair.

The closer the Blue Badge spaces are to the entrance, the more they will be abused.

And to balance any criticism of ASDA, they have one car park (St. Austell ?) where the BB spaces are right next to the entrance, but you need to go round the entire car park to get to them. It intrigued me enough to ask the security guard who said they didn't seem to be abused.

We use whichever best suits ds's needs. Ds has major sensory difficulties so it tends to be those that are in a quieter position so he is less likely to get distressed when getting in or out of the car.

It's the same here, it's as if kids can't walk 2 mins across the car park now, parents need to hold their hands but then they should be holding onto them anyway!

Of course I hold my kids’ hands, but I have twins and you have to do things like get both children out of the car, open the boot, etc. Obviously being close to the store and not across a busy car park is safer.

They shouldn’t be nearer to the store than disabled spaces, however.

Both of my twins have autism and blue badges so it’s not an issue for us now, but we’ve only had it a few months and many LAs wouldn’t have issued one to them

Disabled peoples needs are more important than entitled parents unable to control their unruly children

Disabled peoples needs are more important than entitled parents unable to control their unruly children

Given that there are many disabled children not yet diagnosed / not eligible for a blue badge even if they are diagnosed, it’s pretty shortsighted to miss the fact that there are plenty of parents who benefit massively from these spaces and don’t just have “unruly” children. I know lots of parents of kids with ASD and very few of us have blue badges.

I wish they would have more than one category of blue badge parking to be honest.

My daughter has a blue badge - she can't walk at all and has an electric wheelchair.

Due to the hoist and the chair I need a lot of space at the side of the car to get her out but I will happily then walk as far as you want to get to the shop.

I understand that there are more Blue Badges being issued to help people with autism etc but I think that a bit of an overhaul needs to take place if this is the case. I suppose, like everything, there is a cost involved and it will all depend on budgets.

When she was a baby (1988) I don't remember there being parent and child spaces - when did they become a thing? Does anybody know?

Where my mum lives you can not get a Blue Badge unless you have mobility element of DLA/PIP.

I know there are parents with kids with ASD who do not get a Blue Badge, just as there are disabled people who struggle but are not entitled to a BB. The criteria is very high, so those who get one do really need it.

Changing p and c spaces to “accessible parking” would make much more sense. Parents aren’t the only group who find the extra space handy.

Changing p and c spaces to “accessible parking” would make much more sense. Parents aren’t the only group who find the extra space handy.

BB spaces are provided under legislation though. P&C aren't. If you made all spaces "accessible" then you aren't providing any BB spaces.

Accessible parking spaces would be quickly filled up by parents.

BB spaces are provided under legislation though. P&C aren't. If you made all spaces "accessible" then you aren't providing any BB spaces

I would keep the blue badge spaces then change P&C to accessible spaces.

I didn’t say anything about blue badge spaces being replaced.

My local Asda is even worse. The car park is set up so that there is a big walkway through the middle, and the P&C parking flanks it. Then the disabled bays are across the “road” where the cars drive in the car park, so if you have a disabled passenger you have to cross where the cars are moving to get to the pedestrian path.

And then, what makes it worse, is so many bloody parents dump their trolleys all over the pathway because they can’t be arsed to put them back, so when you do reach the path with your disabled passenger, you have to shove all the trolleys out of the way so you can even reach the store.

I would keep the blue badge spaces then change P&C to accessible spaces.

Which is pretty much what we have now, in practice. I guess we could waste the paint and effort to re-sign them if needed, but I'd rather use that tiny erosion of our climate for something far more important, myself.

I didn’t say anything about blue badge spaces being replaced.

Noted

Which is pretty much what we have now, in practice. I guess we could waste the paint and effort to re-sign them if needed, but I'd rather use that tiny erosion of our climate for something far more important, myself

Heard of environmentally friendly paint? Our local supermarket (newly built) has made a point of that.

I would rather people felt able to use P&C spaces without fear of a certain sub-section of parents demanding info as to why they feel entitled to be there myself.

Obviously any parent who uses a P&C space is going so because they have an unruly brat they can’t control.

OP park wherever your mum feels more comfortable. I got one wouldn’t grudge someone with a greater need than mine using a P&C space.

Heard of environmentally friendly paint? Our local supermarket (newly built) has made a point of that.

No paint still trumps any paint.

(Drifting OT, but it's funny when you reverse the climate change telescope how many things suddenly become "imperative" ...)

I don’t know when they were introduced but it was a long time ago - i remember my dad parking in one when I was about 10 or 11, so in the late 90s outside Safeway (now Morrison’s). I questioned at the time whether we were really who the space was aimed at (a tad embarrassed in case my mates saw me and called me a baby!) but he just laughed it off and pointed out he was a parent and I am his child. Still true now I’m in my 30s I guess, but Morrison’s have these labelled as ‘parent and toddler’ bays now at that store, as does an Iceland near me.

I don’t get the ‘we never had these when I was young and we managed fine’ nonsense. In the past baby change facilities were always in women’s toilets so dads struggled if out alone, disabled toilets were only for people in wheelchairs or other obvious disabilities, etc etc. Times changed. Supermarkets have offered something to make parents life easier - great. Of course park in there if you need to and can’t use a disabled bay for whatever reason but my goodness I’m bored of hearing about how you can park further away or manage in a small space because that’s what everyone did in the past.

No paint still trumps any paint

And given I assume the signs will need to be repainted for regular maintenance, seems sense to do it then, no?

Didn’t you read the thread from a parent complaining about an older person using the P&C spaces? If they were “Accessible” spaces it would remove the need for twatty oneupmanship wouldn’t it?

Didn’t you read the thread from a parent complaining about an older person using the P&C spaces? If they were “Accessible” spaces it would remove the need for twatty oneupmanship wouldn’t it?

I glanced at it briefly. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it ended badly for the OP being told to wind their neck in ?

If people got a tenth as vexed about homelessness, or child poverty as they did questionable parking practices, this country could be paradise.