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!

But the OP says this was not possible, according to the parking attendant.

Too many posters on this thread (the non-disabled?) seem to see this as a money issue (ie pesky disabled people getting all the freebie perks in life) rather than a mobility/access/attempting to have a life issue. Ableism strikes again.

Oh, I give up…the haters gonna hate, hate, hate. The dickheads gonna dickhead, dickhead.

[quote BlusteringBoobies]@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.[/quote]
@BlusteringBoobies, thanks so much for your concern. l intend to let my DD’s qualified teacher for the visually impaired (QTVI) fire the metaphorical bullet at school; they never listen to me as I’m only the parent. Fortunately, my DD’s QTVI is a shit-hot ninja assassin…

[quote Hboo31]@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.[/quote]
But that is not actually what the information says (although it is ambiguous), However the parking warden verified that they can ONLY stay 3 hours. It's not to do with paying, it's how long you are allowed to stay in the disabled spaces.

[quote SmaugMum]@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…[/quote]
Not a derail at all.

I think this thread highlights that we all need to tell our stories and get the understanding out there.

Absolutely right if a homosexual person was refused parking equally people would be up in arms.

You don't choose to be disabled anymore than you choose to be homosexual.

@Whitefire

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.

Except I was told I couldn't. By the traffic warden. I was told they only had 5 BB spaces and so they limit time to make it fair. Except it's not "fair" when able bodied people can stay all day and beyond.

They told me on street parking was free all day. The signs did not say this. There weren't any spaces.

Plus it's not safe for a wheelchair user to be getting out of the car into a wheelchair with the door wide open onto busy traffic. The other alternative is to cross head first onto traffic and reverse in facing the wrong way.

It's just all the jumping through hoops disabled people have to go through to access facilities able bodied people can.

@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.

I was told I couldn't pay for any time. I could only stay for 3 hours. That's it. No option to pay at all or pay to extend.

Btw in my home town centre car park I pay the same as everyone else. No issue with that. But I park in BB space.

If we had a limit of 3 hours I'd never be able to do cinema etc with ds.

• Blue Badge holders can park for free in designated disabled spaces in surface car parks
• For non-disabled bays standard charges apply
• Maximum stay in a designated disabled bay in a car park is three hours
• Parking is chargeable for all users in our multi-storey car parks

This is from the website of the council.

It's clear. Max stay is 3 hours.

It's clear from some of the posts on this thread that some people think that blue badges and free parking are a cool perk.
That we should pay our way and be grateful for the tidbits that get thrown our way. That we should just try harder to fit in.

The amount of time we have driven around a car park wanting to go shopping or a restaurant etc, but had to turn around and go home because there wasn't a BB space available. We CAN'T just park somewhere else. My DH is a blue badge holder, I can't drive so I can't drop him off and park elsewhere. We just want to have the same ability to access places that everyone else takes for granted.

It is surprising when having a disability is the largest “other” minority in the country and unlike religion race nationality or sexuality can drop on you from a great height on any day of your life without notice. Yet still people thing is will never happen to them.

I think that was probably his interpretation of the rules. Very odd.

Some shocking ableism on this thread.

Lots of blasé suggestions of ‘Can’t you just…’. Well, no. Disabled people generally can’t ‘just’ - that’s kind of the point, and why accessible accommodations need to be provided in the first place!

In the social model of disability, people with impairments are rendered disabled by barriers in society. What OP is describing is such an example of that.

But imagine the reverse
What if there are a few disabled parking spots and those people decide to stay all freaking day and therefore leaving you without a place to park?
So I get the limit. Because if you wanna park there a day long, you're excluding someone else from parking there.

@Marvellousmadness

But imagine the reverse What if there are a few disabled parking spots and those people decide to stay all freaking day and therefore leaving you without a place to park? So I get the limit. Because if you wanna park there a day long, you're excluding someone else from parking there.

And every other person who could park there all day in a space was excluding someone else from using it!

The point is the inequality of the 2 types of spaces. Able bodied people could park all day. Disabled people couldn't.

My local council manages to have equality. You park in a BB nay for as long as you need and you pay the time like everyone else.

And just like anyone else if there's no BB nay available you find alternative car park.

But to have to leave an event midway through to move the car isn't equality when able bodied people aren't required to do the same.

I agree with you @itsgettingwierd. It is inequitable - it forces disabled drivers to leave after 3 hours and not other non disabled drivers who can pay for more time to stay.

If the time limit was 3 hours in total for all users that would be fairer. However it still disadvantages disabled people given all day events are held (including para type sporting events) - are booked with agreement of park owner, which disabled people attend who cannot move their cars elsewhere after 3 hours, further afield at to "walk" back.

It is a breach of The Equality Act 2010 as disabled users are treated less favourably than non disabled users without reasonable adjustments.

The first step is to complain to the provider of the car park.

Then contact

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/avoiding-discrimination-physical-environment

There's a time limit to go to EHRC so you may need to report to them not long after stating you have made a complaint and it is still in process but you write so it falls within statutory timescales

"What if there are a few disabled parking spots and those people decide to stay all freaking day and therefore leaving you without a place to park?
So I get the limit. Because if you wanna park there a day long, you're excluding someone else from parking there."

I am amazed you cannot see the ableism in your post.
If there are too few disabled parking spaces, the solution is to provide more, not to say that it is reasonable that someone with a particular characteristic has less entitlement to access places than those without that characteristic.

All those saying you can drop off and then move the car - this doesn't work if the driver is the disabled person or if it someone you cannot leave unattended whilst you move the car/someone who will not cope with all that faffing about.

@Marvellousmadness

But imagine the reverse What if there are a few disabled parking spots and those people decide to stay all freaking day and therefore leaving you without a place to park? So I get the limit. Because if you wanna park there a day long, you're excluding someone else from parking there.

I can't quite believe you didn't read this back to yourself and see the ridiculousness...

If this is the case, then they need to provide more BB spaces. OP has already commented on how few there are.

This
"All those saying you can drop off and then move the car - this doesn't work if the driver is the disabled person or if it someone you cannot leave unattended whilst you move the car/someone who will not cope with all that faffing about."

Is why it isn't equitable as disabled driver or non disabled driver with disabled dependent may not be able to leave them, to drive out of the car park and park elsewhere.

The links for EHRC I sent are current and OP can use them. After looking up LA and car park owner to complain to.

It's disappointing to read how little other PPs understand the barriers that disabled people face . We're not a homogeneous group getting unfair advantage who 'tag each other in' by swopping car parking places halfway through an agreed planned event!

The limits to disabled parking of 3 hours usually apply when there are equitable limits to other non disabled parking or where others are unable to park at all (such as on certain double yellow lines)

I agree with the equivalence of refusing entry to someone, who is homosexual. Such discrimination in other countries is headline news, whereas discrimination against the disabled is ignored.

@SmaugMum I hope all goes well with your dd’s school. The teacher is clearly an idiot if they cannot understand your dd should not be expected to stick printouts in a book. As you say, too busy with other aspects of the EA2010.

@SmaugMum

Too many posters on this thread (the non-disabled?) seem to see this as a money issue (ie pesky disabled people getting all the freebie perks in life) rather than a mobility/access/attempting to have a life issue. Ableism strikes again.

The truth is the single most effective measure to prevent abuse of blue badge spaces is to charge for them.

Sounds like they need more disabled spaces to allow people to park for longer if required. You can't magically overcome disability in three hours.

I'd just take it on the chin and pay in full like everyone else