To park in a parent / child space ?

[XPD]

I have a blue badge (Multiple Sclerosis). I get that it's on the whole a hidden disability (unless you are in a wheelchair). My (in public) problems currently is numbness from the eyes down plus urgency to use the toilet.

Anyway, pulled into a motorway services today. All the disabled spaces were taken, so I parked in a parent / child space. This is the first time I've ever had to do this - and I was at the point of wetting myself. A lady and her partner started (literally) screaming at me for not having a child with me. I have huge problems with my bladder, I'm not sure if I was in the wrong?

What do you think ? Was I in the wrong ?

I park in the parent and child spaces sometimes. I dont meet the threshold for a blue badge but I do have a disability which means some days I can't walk very far.

My dad looked like he was totally fine. He would not make it to the shop from other side of the car park though most likely. He needed lots of breaks for a long time before he got bit better.
He did get challenged a lot including by police.

People are just a bit crazy on parking. I parked in a parent and child space with my 6,9 and 12 year olds and my friends 2 year old. A woman with a baby started screaming at me she needed the space more, and swore in front of the kids.
In her head I was obviously unreasonable to want a space that didn’t involve crossing a busy carpark with two young children and an older one with autism. I mean… whatever. Ignore the crazy, move on.

@PrincessButtercupToo has expressed herself very very badly in an arseholian way but, shockingly, she is right. Disabled spaces are only legally enforceable on the public highway. In private car parks they have no legal force. I am so shocked and surprised by that! the only legal obligation is for the owner of the car park to provide disabled spaces. Of course 99% of people wouldn’t dream of using a disabled space when they didn’t need one.

and @XPD yanbu. The other woman was rude and entitled.

And for the record, I 100% think that disabled spaces in private care parks SHOULD have legal protection. I am utterly gobsmacked that they don’t.

I agree. What I want from a parent & child space is for it to be wider than usual so I can fully open the doors on both sides to get a child in and out of a car seat rather than having to shuffle in sideways in a normal space. There is absolutely no need for it to be any closer to the shop than a normal space, save those for disabled spaces.

I expect the thinking is that a busy car park isn't the safest environment for small children, particularly due to being less visible to drivers reversing, and so herding them from one side to the other presents an avoidable risk if a system can be designed that enables their parents/ carers to park near the shop.

You were absolutely in the right.

Yanbu. I wish they'd put parent and child spaces further away tbh and more disabled spaces closer to entrances. I've got three kids and I don't need to be close to the store- I just need space to get them out without trashing other people's cars.

Hope you're ok. X

No. Because the supermarket still has to abide by the Equality Act and a disabled person using the space is a reasonable adjustment.

This. Supermarket / parking firm can also fine for the misuse of a disabled bay.

Your niece would still have had to be assessed for a blue badge you can't just get it for having a diagnosis of autism it's how it impacts you
My son has no " mobility issues " he not only has a blue badge but we also have a mobility car ,because he qualifys, under the Severe Mental impairment rules he has severe autism and learning disabilities, DLA agree he qualifys for HRM so I don't think it up to you to judge who should or shouldn't have a blue badge.

Your blue badge beats everything. You park where you like, as you need that accommodation and have the documentation to prove it. Anyone yelling at a blue badge holder is a special kind of idiot.

If I saw someone had a blue badge it wouldn't bother me. What does bother me is the hundreds of people I see parking in parent spaces with no blue badge or child and seem absolutely fine. Ive gotten into so many arguments I don't say anything any more but it makes my blood boil

Before I got my blue badge I was just as disabled as I am now.

I parked in parent and child spaces to let me exit the car.

I had no children with me.

It was a reasonable adjustment for my disability.

This drives me insane with the disgusting crap a certain PP is writing.

I have a marked disabled bay outside my house and a BB but entitled twats without a BB happily park in it the moment I drive off.

If you're disabled and have a BB then it's for a genuine reason. They don't give them out like sweets. P&C spaces are great and a convenience because you need room to open the doors wide, but you can park further away in the car park to load your pram if need be. BB holders need to be close to the shop for a million reasons.

This.

But the “I am special because I have sprogged” brigade always pop up to say the most entitled things on this sort of thread. You only have to look at what princess-mummies say about wheelchair spaces on buses, and how much their needs trump those of an actual wheelchair or mobility aid user.

Ds doesn’t have a big sign above his head to say he is disabled. He still is though and has been deemed disabled enough by people who know more than judgemental Pp to need a blue badge.

he is a part time wheelchair user but we actually need the disabled spaces more when he isn’t using his chair than when he is!

They’re closest to the doors to minimise the chances of children getting run over. A three year old in my village got killed recently in a car park by a reversing car.

Blue Badge on private land is not governed by statute. However, my view is that it always trumps p&c.

The requirements for getting a BB are rigorous and if you have one, it's because the need is there.

Disability is not a choice, having children is.

These people who go around screaming at strangers for perceived parking misdemeanours. You will verbally attack the wrong person one day. The highly strung types that go around doing things like this, you look totally crazy. I’m not an aggressive person but if I did use a P+C space, I’d have good reason for doing so, and I wouldn’t put up with some unhinged bell end screaming at me. Mind your own business ffs 🙄

No you weren't in the wrong.

I also don't think someone without a child parking in a P&C space if it's the last one left available is wrong.

With a blue badge the law states that you may park anywhere it is safe to do so including on double yellow lines as long as it does not obstruct the flow of traffic and is safe to do so. So parking in a child/parent space is legal and the right thing to do in your circumstances.

I hate it when someone gets out their cars an pretty much slip into a store. Yes may be a hidden disability but their able body so I don't think this is fair.

How do you know that? DD looks perfectly fine, apart from the head protection, until she falls down unconscious - we spent 8 hours in A & E in May, after she broke her arm and collarbone. Three weeks ago, we spent 9 hours in A & E, finding out if she had a fracture below the knee somewhere, as she couldn’t weight bear on one leg. These are not rare occurrences - it’s happened twice in the last week, but it’s just caused massive bruising and concussion?

So she might walk in fine; but there is no guarantee she’ll be able to walk out. Even if the shop don’t call an ambulance, we could be off to A & E all night!

if I had my disabled person with me and there were no BB bays free, i would park in a PC bay. I think PC bays are a good idea, but parents only need them for a short time , my person will need their wheelchair for life.

Agreed. I get annoyed with people taking the spaces who have no children but a blue badge isnt the same imo. Blue badge is there because of needing the proximity and that should be the priority. As others have said p&c spaces should be far away close to a path rather than right outside the store, it's about space not proximity.