People using blue badges in parent spaces, when disabled spaces are free!

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Hi all, I don’t want to start a debate. If all disabled spaces are taken I have absolutely no problem with somebody with a blue badge using a parent parking bay. They are in greater need but yesterday in the supermarket, the majority of disabled spaces were free. Only 2 were taken yet someone with a blue badge parked in the parent spaces. I’ve seen this happen in the same place a few times.

The disabled and parent spaces are opposite each other with a path in the middle and pretty much equally as close to the shop so no difference there.

Both my children have autism, we don’t have a blue badge so I kinda rely on the parent spaces to get my kids in and out safely and close to the shop as my son is prone to bolting off.

Aibu to be annoyed?

Like I said I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if the disabled spaces were free but they pulled in to a parent space rather than a disabled?

Don't find it too bad, my elderly grandmother needs a badge, she can barely walk to the store.

What I find really irratating (and the first), a man in a large van using one, with no kids just so he has room when there are normal parking spaces yards away.

We don’t have a blue badge as I would feel like we would be judged as to the outside my two Dc look ordinary but my eldest has no sense of danger, runs off, will bolt if he hears a noise he doesn’t like. It’s so hard.

Don’t be a martyr, just get a blue badge if you are eligible. ‘I would feel like we we would be judged’. What, like you have judged the elderly couple who parked in ‘your’ space?

Except they can Every supermarket I've asked at allows BB holders to park in PC spaces. Every single one.

I have a blue badge. If the PC spaces were closer to the shop or wider I would use them without a second thought. You are not actually disabled because of having children, although I do see the need for the wider spaces for prams, car seats etc, it is amazing how many cheeky fuckers park there with their hulking teenage 'children'.

I think they possibly could have been mistaken .

I was in a car not too long ago and the driver parked in a space and I thought it was a disabled space turned out I was wrong and it was a logo with a buggy on it. The sign on the space was fairly worn so it can easily be mistaken.

@purpledaisies They had a blue badge.

P&C spaces are frequently not available so you need to have strategies to get your dc in to the shop safely in that circumstance, regardless of who's actually parked in them.

@Scrumptiousbears

Perhaps the BB spaces were full when they arrived?

Heft
They might be a parent that just happens to have a blue badge

@shuyler I very much doubt it. There are loads at this place and I don't think I have ever seen all of them taken.

It's happened at a Sainsburys and I've watched it. One side for parents one side for blue badge. Parents bay has one space, blue bag spaces all empty and a blue bag car parks in the only parent space.

Who knows why but it's happened. 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Scrumptiousbears

Fair enough. I will add, though, that some non BB holders swear blind there are always plenty of spaces in X places. As a BB holder, some places are absolutely very difficult to get a space and I obviously notice more because I am always looking for one.

The easy solution to this is to put the parent and child spaces at the far side of the car park, furthest from the entrance. No one will steal them and problem solved!

@Brahumbug agreed.

Our priority is width of space and quietness of position, not distance, so we would still use them.

This whole country seems to be screaming out for individual privileges and rights.

We don’t have a blue badge as I would feel like we would be judged as to the outside my two Dc look ordinary but my eldest has no sense of danger, runs off, will bolt if he hears a noise he doesn’t like. It’s so hard.

Too scared to get a blue badge but happy to post judgemental threads on MN, OP?

My mum has a blue badge, sometimes when we go to an unknown supermarket, the only bays we can see are Parent and Baby bays. No idea where the disabled ones are (looking at you Sainsburys).

I will always prioritise my disabled mum over able bodied parents who can just park further away if they want to get their kids out of the car.

The easy solution to this is to put the parent and child spaces at the far side of the car park, furthest from the entrance. No one will steal them and problem solved!

Our priority is width of space and quietness of position, not distance, so we would still use them.

The OP states she needs them to get her dc safely to the store so this would not be a solution for her

The OP could at least try applying for a BB but chooses not to. We use sn buggies and reins/harnesses for safety.

Happy camper the solution for the OP is to stop being ridiculous and apply for a blue badge.

I do this all the time, but I have a blue badge and children. Could this be the case?

Yes I completely agree with both of you. My original comment was that she need to have strategies in place in the likely event that a P&C space won't be available because it's common and it's not acceptable to keep putting dc in danger . Seems bizarre to qualify for a bb but to care so much about what strangers think that she won't apply. Surely keeping dc safe is priority and if parking close to the shop is the only way she can manage this then the blue badge is the only real solution

The easy solution to this is to put the parent and child spaces at the far side of the car park, furthest from the entrance. No one will steal them and problem solved!

If the spaces were about convenience then that’s what they’d do

However, they’re a complete sale gimmick by the supermarkets. Parents will, generally, spend more money in the stores with the easiest access

A lot of disabled people are limited in time (so don’t spend as much) and money (so don’t spend as much) and therefore aren’t a priority. If they weren’t legally obliged to have BB spaces I doubt they’d bother

Our local Tesco has recently revamped and moved all of the disabled spaces to the side of the (massive) store and put more P&C spaces in front of the store. If I have to shop there (live rural so not many choices) and have my DD with me I’ll be using one as I’m not having her walk much further as a disabled 16yo as I’d have her able-bodied 9yo in a p&c space

BB is really difficult to get unless you automatically qualify. The new rules on invisible disabilities came in - we've been turned down and are having to appeal despite a lot of support needed for dc.
Maybe op would not get one so needs strategies as per a pp up thread

*Grow up. Having a child was your CHOICE.

DISABILITIES ARE NOT A SODDING CHOICE!!!!!!*

This ^m I say it all the time and people STILL don't listen!

Naming and shaming Staines riverside carpark who say Parents and child can park in disabled spaces, leaving anyone disabled high and dry when everywhere else full up! NO amount of protests from all us disabled BB holders will change their minds.

Having a disabled child is not a choice. Certainly not something I wished for.