To find this odd ? Disabled parking spaces.

[itsgettingwierd]

So today ds and I travelled to a sporting event for para sport somewhere we've not been before.

We knew there were lots of public car parks.

So we arrive, park, and I do to the machine to buy a ticket for 4-6 hours.

Note: car park is 24 hours and all ticket options available.

At the machine it says blue badge holders get 3 hours free. Fab I think and ask the attendant if I have to come back after the 3 hours to pay for the remaining time or how does it work.

Nope - I'm allowed 3 hours in the car park only. That's it.

It seemed really odd to me. My county allows 3 hours only if you park on double yellows which I've never done but all car parks you've paid as everyone does and can have as long as you need. At sports centres we've never been limited to time and it's been free like it's free to everyone.

The attendants reasoning was "to make it fair". But I don't get that. How's it's fair if you're disabled you can only stay somewhere for 3 hours but if you're able bodied you can stay all day?

I'd be happy to pay as don't think disability is a reason to need free parking - but it is a reason to need accessible parking so you can actually get out of the car!

LIke I said, "rights" are all very well until you have to pay to enforce them. Then they become mere privileges for the wealthy.

And that sums up the problems on our society.

Disabled people are often in low income categories.

Therefore they cannot afford to fight for what's right.

And those who can continue to walk all over them and couldn't give a toss.

@EnidSpyton

This is pure discrimination, and there is a lot of discriminatory thinking on this thread in response.

Disabled people should have equal access to facilities as able bodied people, and equal rights to use facilities as able bodied people.

If there aren't enough disabled spaces to enable disabled people to stay in the carpark for as long as everyone else who doesn't need disabled spaces, then they need to provide more disabled parking spaces.

People saying that can't the OP just move her car and then move it back (and hope there's a disabled space when she comes back!) or 'oh well it's probably to make it fairer for other disabled people' are missing the point entirely.

Disabled people and their carers shouldn't have to work harder to access what everyone else is able to access without even thinking about it. Disabled people and their carers have to do so much invisible work in order to just move around freely in public spaces, and most able bodied people don't realise this and don't care. Lack of provision for disabled people across all areas of society is shocking. The fact that in 2021 it's still totally acceptable for venues to not have parking, ramps, lifts, accessible toilets, etc, and that so many people don't care about this or see it as the major issue it is, says something deeply troubling about our society.

I'm so sorry about this experience, OP. It must be so exhausting constantly having to fight against this sort of thing. Write to the council and kick up a fuss. In fact, name the council please and I'll write too.

@EnidSpyton, you are my Mumsnet hero/heroine of the day. I have a DD(13) who is blind and the ableism on here - and in society in general - is utterly shocking.

If you’ve a spare 10 minutes, do you fancy helping me draft a response to my daughter’s biology teacher who punished her with a negative behaviour comment on Friday because she’d ‘forgotten’ her exercise book? Only my DD does not work in an exercise book, because she’s blind, and works on a special access laptop. Oh, and to compound matters, the teacher emailed me to insist that my DD present to her on Monday morning with all of her laptop work printed out and stuck into the (bastarding) exercise book. Because that’s not in breach of the Equality Act, you know, actually making life much harder - and expecting severely disabled children to have to put in more effort than their non-disabled peers.

This happened on Friday, it’s now Sunday and I still want to separate the teacher’s head from the rest of her body. I am a gentle and mild-mannered person but the increase in casual ableism (maybe because people, in the main, know now that they really can’t get away with being racist and are terrified of falling foul of LBQT+ rules?) is giving me the rage.

@itsgettingwierd

LIke I said, "rights" are all very well until you have to pay to enforce them. Then they become mere privileges for the wealthy.

And that sums up the problems on our society.

Disabled people are often in low income categories.

Therefore they cannot afford to fight for what's right.

And those who can continue to walk all over them and couldn't give a toss.

Not quite sure what the problem is there ?After all, if that's the will of the people, - and it clearly is - who are we to disagree ?

maybe because people, in the main, know now that they really can’t get away with being racist and are terrified of falling foul of LBQT+ rules?

I think it's just the chances of getting a smack in the mouth from an able aggrieved LBQT+ person are much higher. Hard to take action when a single step is your kryptonite.

Don’t worry, I’ve already emailed the teacher. It wasn’t the simple and very effective ‘fuck off, you ableist idiot’ that I first drafted; but a very polite and long-winded version of ‘fuck off, you ableist idiot’. The complaint to the head is going in tomorrow. Fuckers.

Do you have a photo of the parking t'c & c's sign? or link to website?

Would have thought the sensible combination would have been:
-BB entitles you to use a disabled bay vs a normal space
-BB entitles up to 3 hours of free parking (in any space)
-more than 3 hours requires payment of the full parking tariff for the whole parking period

But parking firms are often anything but sensible so it would be interesting to see what their signage says.

DGR are you suggesting it's the will of the people that disabled people are fucked over and have no rights to equality?

I suspect not because that would be awful and I'm reading it wrong.

But remember disabled people are a minority. Minorities shouldn't be fucked over because it's the will of the majority who are able bodied that there is nothing to make their lives equal in society.

I don't want to give link to actual car park as it would be very outing.

But their website says this Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays only for up to 3 hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.

Which is the issue we have. We needed more than 3 hours but need the disabled bay for access to and from the car.

It maybe quite standard across many parts of the uk but my county always charges for disabled bays in line with normal spaces and you get as long as you need. Or if it's free parking at a leisure centre etc you get as long as you need in whatever space you need.

I was just so shocked to find that needing a disabled space came with limitations on being able to access the facilities I was taking ds to.

I could find 100 shops easily in mile of my home that I can’t get into because large doorframe or step. When we are constantly told some members of the community are the most oppressed it’s hard to swallow. If one those shops refused entry to a Gay man it would be all over local news if not national. But if you just a wheelchair user oh well just be patient. I don’t get why one group is able summon the compassion and rage and other groups can’t. That’s not to say there should be oppression for anyone but I’ve been disabled 20y now and not much has changed. Can’t be suing them all individual off my own back which is only option open to me.

@itsgettingwierd, so sorry for the very annoying and random derail.

My DD has a BB as she falls into a priority category; if only I had a pound for every time I’ve heard ‘I’ll only be five minutes’ as a disabled parking space is blocked once again by a non-disabled, non-Blue Badge holder.

The ableism here continues…

@SmaugMum That is beyond shocking on the teacher's part.

I am furious just reading this and it's not even my daughter!

Not wanting to derail this thread too much but please update tomorrow. And I hope the response is somewhere along the lines of a grovelling and unending apology.

Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays only for up to 3 hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.

I wouldn't take from that that BB holders have a max stay of 3 hours, just they can park for up to three hours free. Is 3 hours usually sufficient for what the car park is most likely to be used for?

That is outrageous and sounds like a law suit waiting to happen. You are not supposed to discriminate against disability. And this surely is.

Agree with Whiteside is it poorly written,.so rather than Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays only for upto 3hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.

What they mean is Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays for only upto 3hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.
So you'd then need to move to another bay and pay standard tariff, though how that would help those who need the larger size of the BB bay or its location I don't know!

@MichelleScarn

Agree with Whiteside is it poorly written,.so rather than Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays only for upto 3hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.

What they mean is Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled bays for only upto 3hours. Normal tariff applies in standard bays.
So you'd then need to move to another bay and pay standard tariff, though how that would help those who need the larger size of the BB bay or its location I don't know!

No disrespect, but this thread is becoming circular now. The OP has already explained that a traffic warden said she couldn’t pay extra to extend her stay. The point is, it’s discriminatory because disabled motorists or passengers may actually want to stay beyond the allocated three hours because they want to have the same life opportunities as their non-disabled peers. In truth, disabled people in this scenario are being given a curfew on their enjoyment of life - probably because disabled people are always an afterthought and an inconvenience to the able-bodied majority. It’s a poorly thought through and poorly executed policy by a council which has to pay lip service to making provision for disabled people.

DGR are you suggesting it's the will of the people that disabled people are fucked over and have no rights to equality?

Pretty much, yes. You need to apply Dantes razor: if enough people weren't happy with the way things are, they'd change. Like bus access for example - notice how wheelchair users are very much second class citizens here.

It's close to 30 years since I've been with DW. In that time I have seen accessibility and societies appreciation of the less able go into reverse at a speed of knots. Even 10 years ago it would have been unthinkable that a wheelchair using diplomat would be treated as Karine Elharrar was earlier this month.

Tbh if you think it's unfair then they could just do away with giving any amount of free parking and everyone just pays?
I think 3hrs a fair amount of free parking if there's something you need to do but if you want a day pottering about you pay for it.

The policy is fine and makes sense, the attendant was wrong.

It doesn't say a BB holder can only stay for three hours, just they don't have to pay if they stay for up to three hours. I would then take it to mean that a BB holder wanting to stay for 4hours would need to pay for the full lot.

Wait. So you weren't allowed to pay for the full parking time at all? I understood that you couldn't have 3hrs free then pay for more?
If the rule is "disabled people aren't allowed in the car park more than 3hrs" then that's absolutely unfair.

So I'd say it's unclear. Pay the full parking time and stay as long as you paid for. 🤷‍♀️

@Chocolatewheatos

So I'd say it's unclear. Pay the full parking time and stay as long as you paid for. 🤷‍♀️

The OP has a child in a wheelchair who needs wider access. Disability spaces are typically wider than normal spaces for this reason. The OP (and child in a wheelchair) wanted to spend longer than the three hours allocated doing life stuff. They couldn’t park in a ‘normal’ space due to wheelchair requirements but the parking attendant wouldn’t permit them to spend ‘free’ three hours in the BB space and then pay for their extra time.

And breathe….😅

@knittingaddict

It's a mess obviously. My suggestion only works if you have an able bodied person with you who can move and pay the extra.

I'm not trying to be a pain. I just misunderstood the situation at first. My mum has a blue badge, so I'm not unsympathetic.

I would write to someone, may be the newspapers. You can't have been the only one to be massively inconvenienced by this.

I don't understand your point. OP has a son who uses a wheelchair and can not exit or enter the vehicle without the surrounding space of a disabled bay. It's not about paying - she is happy to pay. It is about only being allowed to use a disabled space for 3 hours and then having to leave or move to a space where her son could not get in or out if the vehicle.

I agree with @Whitefire
It reads to me that you get 3 hours free. If you want 4 hours you pay for 4 hours, not just the extra hour. The OP says they asked if they could pay for extra and the answer was no but it wasn't explained that you must pay for the whole time.

@Hboo31

I agree with *@Whitefire* It reads to me that you get 3 hours free. If you want 4 hours you pay for 4 hours, not just the extra hour. The OP says they asked if they could pay for extra and the answer was no but it wasn't explained that you must pay for the whole time.

So, a curfew on the disabled, lest they get in the way of the important non-disabled people beyond their allocated time slot. And a piss-take of a nod to being disabled friendly?

@SmaugMum no, a free 3 hours if they want a short visit. If not, they pay the same as everyone else. Not a curfew, they can stay as long as they like but they pay for the full time.

I did not make the rules, nor am I saying I agree with them. I'm just giving my interpretation of the restrictions.