To park in one of hundred of disabled spaces where there isn’t a single P&C space?

[MickeyMouseShithouse]

I have two children in car seats and I struggling getting them out in one particular multi storey car park local to me. The thing is, this multi story has hundreds.. hundreds(!) of disabled spaces that the majority of are always empty, but not a single parent and child space for a shopping centre?!

Its started to effect my anxiety and puts me off going there but it’s really the only half-decent place I can get anything locally.

WIBU to park in a disabled spot? Not even one close to the entrance, just any of them!

or who do I contact to question why there aren’t any p&c spaces?

it’s so frustrating, I can’t imagine there are a couple hundred disabled people going shopping to the same shopping centre in the same day.. but I can imagine there are are least 1 family with a car seat/pushchair!

I would report you if you parked in a disabled space without a blue badge.

I bet most disabled people would be much more accommodating than the mob of frothing virtue signallers on this thread tbh, especially if there were still more than ample disabled spaces left.

Let me guess you have a massive car so can't park it in a normal parking space. I never had any trouble getting my DD out of her car seat in a normal parking space. I had the most trouble when I was pregnant as I had SPD and couldn't walk really. 2 kids doesn't need a massive car..

I understand the temptation if there are genuinely lots of unused disabled bays and the rest are too tight to actually get a baby in/out, but I wouldn't do it.

The real issue is with the parking provision which sounds crap. Agree with PPs you ought to write in re the widths, and suggest locating some P&Cs away from the entrance to limit the appeal. Wish more places would site them further out, there would always be availability!

I'm disabled. I have a blue badge.

Before I had my badge I was just as disabled.

I didn't park in a disabled space because they're for blue badge holders.

I did park in P&C spaces because I needed the room to get out and I'd let customer services know. Using the words "as a reasonable adjustment for my disability".

Damn right I'd report someone in a BB space without a badge.

And I would 100% report you for parking in one of the spaces that I particularly need to enable my DH to lift me out of the car and into my wheelchair.

Hope that helps 😇

I have a blue badge. I regularly see cars parking in bb spaces with no bb, including what is possibly an employee in the local Tesco as it is there for hours - I am going to complain. There are often very limited bb spaces in these car parks eg 2 at the Tesco. The bb space in my village is used daily by able bodied people at school drop off and pick up. Ditto the bb spaces at out of town shopping centres.

People, who don’t qualify for a bb are unlikely to notice how many times this occurs everywhere. Parents, however, notice a bb holder sometimes using the p&c when then bb spaces are full at the supermarket. I’ve been shouted at by a woman for parking in the p&c and the rant didn’t stop when I explained I have a bb and that I am legally entitled to park there.

Again for the hard of thinking, having children is a choice. It may well be 'bloody hard' but is in no way comparable to a disability. If you park in disabled spaces without a blue badge you deserve the fine.

Dfod

I’d love to know where all these car parks are with hundred of empty blue badge spaces, because I’ve lived all over the country and I’m yet to come across one.

Anyone who parks in a blue badge space, without a blue badge, is totally selfish. There’s no excuse for it whatsoever. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got twins, triplets, a 4x4 or any other reason, they’re not there for you to use. You can get your children out of cars where there are no P&C spaces, hence why zoos, theme parks, cinemas and even hospitals always seem to have hundreds of kids inside them.

Well then I hope you get a ticket @Annon1234 . And I don't care if you think I am nasty, I will stand up for the right for disabled people like my DS to have the accommodations they need. I don't know you of course; but based on your post I think you are looking like the nasty one for complaining about this.

Please don’t park in a blue badge space no matter how temping. I understand it’s tricky to manoeuvre a toddler and baby from a car in a tight space. I’ve had to do it with my grandchildren. I didn’t experience it when my children were babies because I didn’t have a car. Toddler in buggy, small baby in sling and we took the bus. Sorry but listening to the grumbles about the hardship of not having enough space to open the doors on oversized cars is laughable.
I’ve now had 25 years experience of arriving in a car park with an adult with very severe learning disabilities and physically disabled. Picture an adult with the mental and physical capabilities of a 15 month old. Which scenario do you think sounds the most troublesome. Lifting your little child/children from the car or hauling an adult size toddler who doesn’t want to get out.
You could be the person parking where we could have parked but have had to turn and go back home!!

Write to the shopping centre pointing oht that they’re losing customers who can’t safely park with carseats etc but the majority of the car spaces are unused. They could easily rebadge some as parent spaces if they chose to.

I have a lot of sympathy OP the supermarket near me has zillions of permanently empty disabled bays while the rest of us fight over dregs, they seriously misunderstood who shops there 🤷‍♀️

Well said.

disabled people need these spaces.
P&C spaces are a nice little perk you find in some supermarkets. They are not generally found in car parks at sport centres, doctors surgeries, town centre car parks etc because they aren’t essential

BB spaces are essential.

don’t moan. Give thanks you and your family don’t need a BB.

I had twins
Parking is hell
I had to put one in the buggy in the line of traffic, leave him and get the other one out. I started putting out a police cone next to him.
If anything happened I’d have been jailed.
There should be spaces for people who have children. Without them whose going to pay taxes when we re all old

Not all disabilities are visible. Or the same every day.

You are ableist.

Are you denying my eyes?

The entitlement you feel you have to a parking space because you have kids is unreal. Good luck.

Where did you get your medical degree? Ffs

You see one person for a few seconds part of their day. You don't know what they're like any other time.

My disability is not the same every day.

Some days I can get out of the car fine and walk with a limp to the trolley.

By the time I've walked round the supermarket I'm hanging on to the handle for dear life.

Other days I need crutches.

I will eventually need a wheelchair.

Who are you to decide I'm faking it?

You need to get to grips with this. Otherwise, how will you cope with taking your children to school?

I'm an ex traffic warden. I also have a son with disabilities and for many years had a blue badge fpr him..so see both sides ( he no longer 'qualifies' despite being... yeah still the same) I also had 4 kids aged 5 and under!

The car park WILL be patrolled and you will get a ticket. Maybe there are too many BB spaces, but I bet some of the time they are nearly all used. And even if they are not, they are not there for you. Yes some people do abuse the BB system (noteably drivers who have it for their disabled auntie or whatever but use it themselves) but most... whether their disability is visible to you or not, don't.

Please don't use them. Park on an end row, go at quiet times. Train the toddler to stand totally still.. get the baby out first.

But unless you want a fine, don't use the BB spaces. I was never very sympathetic to those people. And appealing a fine because you have two kids won't work.

Reins are your friends. Put reins on toddler, get her out, hold firmly onto reins, get baby out, go.

Easily. They’ll park their oversized cars on the pavement and there will be no room for wheelchairs and pram walkers to safely pass!

No, you’re wrong. As the parent of a severely disabled child who qualifies for a Blue Badge, I would most definitely not be accommodating to anyone who parked in a disabled space without a Blue Badge. I’m sick of the ‘othering’ of disabled people on MN; disabled spaces are for the legitimate holders of Blue Badges.