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

[Pop2017]

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?

They may have misunderstood the signage.
There may have been factors not obvious to you that meant the disabled bays were in fact unsuitable. I've been to supermarkets where they have forgotten to put a dropped curb anywhere near the disabled bays or where the designated bays aren't in fact wide enough to allow a wheelchair access but the parents bays are wider.
The couple may have been meeting family with children that needed picking up.
Or they might just have been rude and inconsiderate.
No way to be sure.
But the real problem - not enough parking spaces full stop. Disabled people regularly cannot get a space. Parents cannot get the spaces they need. And everyone else complains they cannot park because half the car-park is marked off as special (rarely true in my experience but I get in can feel like that).
So how about planning permission takes into account parking needs better and while we're at it public transport is made accessible, affordable and generally more user-friendly.

People have told you many times on this thread it is not just about distance.
You have a solution to your problem but you are choosing not to take it.

YABU - disability badges trump everyone else and rightly so. Parent spaces are a marketing ploy - they are not a legal requirement.

If your own children have autism they may qualify for a blue badge themselves.

In the scenario you have described, with the spaces being equal, I think YANBU.

OP I would honestly apply for the blue badge. Dont worry about people judging you honestly your kids safety comes firat. Disabled soaces are required by law, parent and child soaces are a courtesy created by supermarkets to make money. Apply for the blue badge, protect your kids because parent child spaces are not protected in any way and anybody can use them.

When they parked the blue badge spaces might have been full?

My guess is that they thought they were parking in a disabled parking bay

When my disabled, blue badge owning son was younger I just used whichever was most convenient.

YABU.

They can park where the hell they like in my opinion.

P&C spaces are in no way comparable to disabled spaces.

If it’s the same distance then you do kind of have a point however-
At my local Asda the parents and child spaces are nearer to the shop then the blue badge spaces by quite a long way for someone with mobility problems.

Pop2017 Wgat age are your children? Are they actually young enough for you to use the p&c parking spaces? You shouldn’t be using them if they’re over whatever the ‘permitted’ age in that car park. If they are young enough, then what are you going to do when they’re older?

DS2 had a broken leg when he was 3 years old. We had to go to the supermarket on one occasion and a CF with no children and no blue badge swung into the last available P&C space. Having finally found a parking space so far from the shop that it was probably in a different time zone, I lugged DS the whole length of the car park, finally found a trolley to plonk him in, and stalked to Customer Services to complain about the CF nabbing ‘my’ space. The customer services person was very nice and very apologetic but stated that those spaces are a courtesy and although they are intended for parents and young children, actually anyone can use them. So that told me!

OP apply for a blue badge for your child.

My DS has a BB for invisible disabilities, we have use ld it quite a few times and have never been questioned - if I do get any questions then I will just tell them to report me if they feel I’m misusing a BB.

This sounds like my Sainsburys, The P&C spaces are on the same side of the road as the shop, whereas the disabled spaces are across a zebra crossing, but theoretically closer. The BB spaces are much more dangerous for me.
As you said you get to the P&C spaces before the blue badge spaces, they might have been caught out once too often driving past the P&C space to park in the blue badge space that someone else then grabs and then the P&C space is then taken by the time they'd looped around.

Definitely get yourself a blue badge though if it makes your kids safer and life less limited, as someone with mobility issues with a D.C. with ASD, no matter what disability you have someone is always going to judge and decide that you're not worthy in some way, it's incredibly difficult to get a badge, so if you have one and didn't outright lie to get one, then who is anyone else to judge you?
Best of luck.

I suggest you apply for a blue badge. Many people with autism have them to keep them safe if they get some mobility allowance

Sorry but I really don’t understand why you’d risk your child’s safety purely because you might be judged by a random person who you’ll probably never see again. I’ve had 2 incidents of people making comments at me in 10 years of being a BB holder and they were mild comments. They were “checking” I was actually disabled.

A blue badge trumps everything else.

But I completely agree with you OP.

In fact they were at the end of the row on parent spaces. They could have parked closer in a disabled bay.

Sounds like you answered your own question to me - end of the row was more important than a few feet closer

I park wherever is most convenient for me

I have only really noticed it at a shopping complex nearby, but it's because randomly the large amount (30+) of disabled spaces are further away from the entrance than the EIGHT parent spaces which are situated right outside the entrance. Who ever made their decision is an idiot. P&C spaces don't have to be closer, just wide enough!!

I have seen it happen at the local Tesco but I also know some disabled people who deliberately park in parent spaces because they "can" and won't hear otherwise

If your kids need a blue badge, then just apply for one! Stop whining about disabled people making life just that teeny tiny bit easier for themselves. Have some compassion.

If I ever do manage to go to the supermarket with my husband, I'm fit to drop in a short time and it'll take days & days in bed to recover. Pain and immobility are so intense, overwhelming and downright bloody miserable.

Here's you moaning about a bloody 'courtesy' parking space when it might be the only time that disabled person leaves the house for weeks on end.

Why cant you see that's it's extremely likely the disabled bays were full when they arrived? Thats the assumption most people would make?

So next time you see what looks like stupid, unusual, twattish parking, like us the other day, sideways across THREE disabled spaces, to load without blocking the road of a multistorey carpark... there MIGHT be reasons you are totally unaware of.
It’s still not ok to take up three disabled spaces preventing two other people from parking.

@Pop2017 I find your comment "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" hypocritical, as you* are judging the couple who parked their car in a p&c bay using a blue badge! Oh the irony

"It’s still not ok to take up three disabled spaces preventing two other people from parking."

I don't have a problem with it for loading or unloading. It sound like the alternative would have blocked everyone including those trying to access the spaces.