Regarding disabled parking

[appendix]

I work for a small company. We have office space in a small building which houses a number of other companies. There is just about enough adequate parking for all employees in terms of number of spaces.
Here is where I think I've messed up. I'm operations manager. The company is too small to have HR (we outsource things like payroll) so often HR adjacent queries end up with me.

We have 2 disabled employees. One (Sue) has significantly mobility limitations and uses a big motorised wheelchair. The other (Lynda) has less significant mobility issues (ie doesn't need a wheelchair, can walk small distances.) Both are have blue badges.

There are 3 disabled spaces in the carpark. One can be discounted as it's always in use by an employee of another company in the building who starts work very early. Out of the remaining 2 only one is big enough to accommodate Sue's needs (electric ramp for a big wheelchair etc). The issue we have is that Lynda insists on parking in it. She gets to work earlier than Sue who has childcare limitations and always parks there. It's causing a lot of frustration and ill will, especially as the other non wheelchair sized space is actually closer to the entrance, so it seems a perverse choice.

There has been a lot of grumbling among staff about this. It was especially bad a few days ago when Sue had to call for assistance - she had to get out of her car at the entrance and a colleague had to park her vehicle for her. Lynda sits watching this. Other staff members have spoken to her and asked if she could park in the other, closer space but she refuses.

Note- Sue and Lynda have clashed a bit over the years- there's only one disabled loo on our floor and yet they seem to always need it at the same time etc. I've been reliably informed that Lynda won't park close to the entrance because then her start and leave times will be visible to everyone- the other larger space is around a bend and can be accessed via a side door so her in and outs are not visible.

Anyway, we have spoken multiple times to the people who own the offices. They give no shits. The car park is apparently compliant in terms of spaces and they're not prepared to do anything more.

Our company owner has now said that whichever employee gets in first needs to park next to her reserved space and let reception know. When Sue arrives the person in the space next to the reserved one nips out, moves their car and Sue parks across both spaces. Owner then just parks where she can find a space.

It's not ideal especially in the rain. It's caused massive ill will towards Lynda who has just come to me and said she feels she's being bullied due to her disability. (She's not being included in lunch orders or social stuff organised by staff themselves, although she is fully included in terms of her job.) Honestly the company owner doesn't feel particularly warm towards her.

I'm not a HR person. I felt that as she wasn't being excluded in terms of work etc there's not a lot I can do about people liking her and I pretty much told her that. I was talking to a friend about it though and they said we could actually be in trouble for not including her in lunches/ social things, especially as it's because of issues caused by a disability. (She's invited to all work organised events, just not informal staff drinks / lunches/ chats/ coffee rounds organised by the staff)

I'm going to suggest getting some HR advice but was I wrong?

I think if it becomes obvious that you are looking at people's start and end times because someone decided she wasn't disabled enough to park where she is legally allowed to park you would have bigger problems than who is popular or not

Both disability spaces are big. Lynda can have her door open fully to exit in the space she doesn't want to park in.
The problem is Sue has a special chair, very heavy, there's a ramp and a lift and the standard space doesn't quite work as her car is very big (she has a big family as well!)

If they are both disabled parking spaces as far as meets the minimum space requirements then there's not a lot you can do, any blue badge holder can use any space. It seems a bit mean of the person with lower level of disability but she's not legally doing anything wrong

but what about if Sue was posting that they have 2 disabled spaces available and she can only use one and the other disabled person was using it so she's having difficulties?

Disability doesn't mean you are a sainted lovely person, and this may or may not be the case with Lynda. Since nobody can actually ask, it seems the best way is to have the spaces adjusted.

Where on earth is management in this? The first time this happened it should have been sorted by someone telling Lynda not to park there and to use the other space!

Allocate the disabled parking officially.

All staff to be reminded that the parking is allocated deliberately (so you're not singling Lynda out)

That won’t work- it’s a shared car park, owned by another company- @appendix can’t tell anyone where they can or can’t park. She isn’t in charge of the car park or employees of other companies.

The other companies using the car park could all employ 6 new BB users tomorrow and they would ALL be entitled to use those spaces.

My dad is a big guy and he uses a big motorised wheelchair. We have had no issues with bay sizes in public and private car parks.
Has anyone actually measured the bays? The law says:

Bays should be at least 2400mm wide by 4800mm long.

In addition, there must be an ‘access zone’ of 1200mm around each side of the bay for disabled motorists to get into and out of their vehicles safely.
Space at the back of the vehicle is just as important as the side for rear-access wheelchair ramps and hoists.

Might be worth checking all the bays are compliant.

It seems a bit mean of the person with lower level of disability

The whole point of Blue Badges - and indeed modern disability rights - is to avoid creating a hierarchy of disability. Because it never ends well.

Yes I already explained why I had misunderstood and apologised for the misunderstanding in a later post

I hope you have changed people's names for this

I would strongly recommend that your company employs an external HR company to assist with this as they clearly don't have the internal skills to handle it

Is there any other space in the car park that would work for this - i.e. not a disabled space but maybe on the end of a row etc? If so, could this be 'reserved' for Sue, like the company owner's space is?

How are the people moving her car insured.

With some mobility vehicles it has to have a named driver on the insurance and they are the only ones allowed to drive the vehicle.

The company is doing something legally wrong by failing to provide Sue with useable parking and allowing her to be bullied by another employee.

What's with the toilet thing? When Sue fires up her wheelchair does Lynda sprint-hobble to get there first? Or vice versa....

Lynda's poor time-keeping is surely a separate issue, and she shouldn't be blamed for it if you institute checks on everyone.

God yes! That's why I keep messing up..... 🤣

You asked for a diagram.....

Just how much bigger IS this space?

Usually cars with ramps etc come out of the back of the car don't they? So width wouldn't matter

I would use disabled space 2 and vip space 1 and amalgamate them as one space for Sue.

I would imagine that because Sue is in a wheelchair and Linda has mobility issues one or both of them take significantly longer is the bathroom and therefore if the other person wants the toilet at the same time they have to wait quite awhile. They may also be less able to wait awhile due to their disability.

And instead of seeing it for what it is, a lack of facilities, the OP (and by the sounds of things the company culture) prefer to point fingers at the people with disabilities and call it a clash.

It's easier to point fingers at people with disabilities rather than really accept that the world is not built for them or fully adapted for them.

If everyone was having to wait for one toilet and a woman in a wheelchair to maneuver themselves in and out of it (which I have done and it's not easy) you can bet your life they would be impatient and frustrated with the lack of other facilties. But it's easier to blame Linda for clashing...

But it's not their carpark, it belongs to the owners of the building. This one company can't start taking spaces off other companies

more seriously disabled colleague.

Its exactly this type of thinking that causes so many problems and discrimination for disabled people.

A wheelchair user is not necessarily ‘more disabled’ than another disabled person. Disability is not a linear spectrum from mild to severe.

Lynda (or any non wheelchair using disabled person) could have a number of symptoms/reasons why she needs the bigger space- she is not obliged to disclose these to the whole office.

Yet an office full of people have used utterly lazy thinking and decided wheelchair= ‘most disabled’, and then engaged in stupid saviour like behaviour for the poor wheelchair lady by being dicks to another disabled person.

@appendixffs get some proper hr and legal advice. If you start monitoring her coming and going, leaving her out of social things, talking about her and ostracising her because she uses a car parking space she is entitled to use because she is disabled (and chooses not to disclose her private medical information to the whole office) you are asking for trouble.

Frankly - the solution would actually be to look for other premises which include more disabled provision such as more disabled toilets and bigger spaces

If your owner swaps with reserved space 1 that might help. It might be possible for owner and Sue to both be parked up, if the extra width is only needed during loading and unloading. Owner sounds like good people.

There could be a reason relating to her disability meaning she needs more accommodation- but she hasn't told us.

I'm really interested in this, as someone who worked with a colleague who did not declare a significant disability, but then went on to claim all sorts of necessary adjustments.

Under the Equality Act, and the legal requirements for employing someone with a disability who needs reasonable adjustments, how much disclosure is expected from the person requesting adjustments for a disability?

If there is a reason for 'Lynda' to need particular parking, which means that the parking space Susan needs is also necessary for Lynda, is she obliged to tell her employers?

I would have thought that would be reasonable behaviour & a reasonable obligation.

Ad then I think, just because someone is disabled, doesn't mean they're not being a bastard ... IYSWIM - Lynda could just be a not very nice colleague.

Get an occupational health report done for both of them specifically focusing on the parking issue and what space is required for them to safely exit and enter their vehicles including any equipment to assist them (crutches and sticks take up less space than a ramp and motorised chair for instance). Having an independent third party involved will take the heat out of the situation and act on their recommendations. You cannot magic up extra spaces, you need to work with what you've got and allocate the current spaces on a needs basis.

Treat Lynda's "flexible" working as a completely separate matter and issue a letter of concern if necessary - it will give her the heads up you're onto her without the formality of a disciplinary.

When Lynda came to you, did you tell her why you think people may be excluding her? You can tell her diplomatically, although I do understand this might be difficult.

It seems everyone but Lynda knows that she’s a massive twat.