To use disabled parking bays when on crutches?

[Glamgwen]

Boring parking question. I’m currently on crutches following on operation. I need to park in a multi-storey car park today (no other options) that doesn’t have a lift. I can’t manage stairs or slopes, so can only park on the ground floor but these spaces are all disabled. Would it be acceptable for me to park in one & leave a note in the window explaining the situation & giving my mobile number in case anyone with a blue badge needs the space? I should add that there are loads of disabled spaces & I’ve never known them all to be in use.

It could be worth talking to a physio or similar about managing stairs and slopes on crutches. I managed them with a broken ankle on which I couldn't weight-bear, and with full length (under the shoulder) crutches.

Just get a taxi. Probably end up cheaper than the fine anyway.

When I was in the same position the manager of Tesco told me to use a blue badge space. They are unenforceable on private land anyway

YABU. You'll get a ticket, and rightly so - you're not disabled, you're temporarily recovering from surgery.

Check the signage carefully and whether they are described as blue badge only or disabled, as explained earlier some are courtesy spaces and can't be enforced.

Your condition is temporary, and while inconvenient for you it would be an even bigger inconvenience to someone with a permanent disability who can't park because you've taken the space.

Nope you shouldn't these spaces are for people with blue badges not for you.

Imagine if leaving a not was enough, lots of people would do it and there would be no disabled spaces for the disabled.

Blue badge provision is provided as a result of the Equality Act - which places a (very very very) light) onus on institutions to make "reasonable adjustments" in equality. Part of this is provision of parking for the less able. Private companies tend (but don't always) to follow the guidelines councils will use, and so require a blue badge to use a disabled bay with the person the badge applies to actually being in the car at the time. If these conditions aren't met, they (or someone they contract the job out to) can issue a parking charge. Which as we should all know by now (but given the moon landing thread, won't be the case) are enforceable in court.

Some places go further - it's not enough to have a Blue Badge - the cars tax must also be exempt (nasty shock near me when that was bought in for a lot of cunts).

That's it really. Generally private car parks disabled bays aren't widely policed in my experience. So chances are you'd be OK. But only chances.

If people could be trusted, then disabled bays could just be provided on a needs basis. But as we know there are enough cunts around to ensure that can't ever happen.

Sorry for the OPs position. But it has to be compared to that of someone who has not, can not and never will be able to walk; and who is already under pressure from society to stay out of sight as it is.

Blue badges are not easy to get at all, quite a bit of paperwork. If everybody just left a note in their window, they'd be loads of abuse. Pick another car park or get a taxi.

Are you able to contact whoever manages the carpark in advance and check with them. You never know, you might be able to leave your registration number with them. Very occasionally people go out of their way to be helpful. It might be your lucky day. Worth a try maybe.

Having gone through a rigorous and stressful process of an in person assessment with dc including the humiliation of being followed back to the car to watch them, I wish I'd had the option of

1. Dealing with his needs for only a few weeks
2. Writing a note to access support

@MandyMotherOfBrian was it marked in white or yellow? Mine is marked in white and everyone parks in it (without a badge) the moment I leave.

No one gets a ticket.

I've spoken to traffic wardens and PSCOs and they all say that anyone can park in a white painted disabled bay without a blue badge as its a 'courtesy' bay. If it's painted yellow, then you have to display a blue badge, or you will get a ticket.

You've no idea how infuriating it is but that's the law!

She is disabled. She can't walk unaided. She doesn't have a permanent disability, or a blue badge.

Would it be acceptable for me to park in one & leave a note in the window explaining the situation & giving my mobile number in case anyone with a blue badge needs the space?

Do you really think this is appropriate? Expecting a disabled person to phone you to move your car?

Really?

Can you maybe think again?

Op are you coming back?

If a space is provided as a companies way of complying with the EA, then it should be policed. Otherwise it's not being provided under the EA.

It would be entirely possible for a person to take action against the company on these grounds.

In theory.

In practice no one is interested in disabled issues - certainly not the courts. And most companies outsource parking patrols to demonstrate compliance. Hence using the same rules as councils.

Personally I have long agitated for a small provision to the EA which makes it a clear and separate offence to abuse anything provided under the EA. So park in a Blue Badge space without the badge, and have your car crushed. Or get a criminal record. However, as several MPs have said over the years, I really should set my sights lower, because no one cares.

She is disabled. She can't walk unaided. She doesn't have a permanent disability, or a blue badge.

Being on crutches temporarily isn't being disabled 🙈

It is a shame we don't have provision for this type of scenario, but of course, the reason we don't is that it would be abused.

Elderly MIL awaiting hip replacement barely able to walk - we had to support her as she shuffled, clinging to the side of the car, round to the back of the car because her walking aid wouldn't fit between the cars in normal parking spaces

Because the world is full of dickheads, there is no provision for that at all, and people in their 80s have to suffer loss of dignity.

You could have applied for a BB though?

Not eligible because it's classed as a temporary condition (operation in theory resolves it).

No, not Ok
Why on earth did you think it might be?
And how would leaving your phone number work? Some poor person who needs the space has to ring you, wait for you to answer, explain to you that you are being a selfish person, then wait for you to come back to your car and move it? That is selfish in the extreme
Why not get a taxi if you absolutely have to go to town today

This!

On average there are seventy car parking spaces for every single disabled space. She can use one of them like everyone else. Disabled bags are for people living either a permanent disability that need them

You are another selfish person

You'll get fined I'm afraid whether you're in the right morally or not

@WoodenFloorboards she isn't disabled