A (disabled) parking one!

[Brigger]

I parked outside a terraced house on a side street where the sign below is in the window. I did not see this at the time. No disabled bay marked.

Parking is very tricky in the area, I am currently caring for my sick mum who has just come out of hospital and she lives on a busy main road that also has limited parking. I try to park on the main road whenever possible, generally on the block before where there is often space, but not today.

AIBU to report to the Council the fact that someone (assume disabled parking notice house) is using a sign without permission and saw fit to scrawl an abusive message about parking on my drivers side window with a tippex-like substance this morning?!

YABU - Don't report. Why did you park there? Park three streets away and walk you lazy mare.
YANBU - No restrictions marked on the road? Game on. Report them for inappropriate signage and vandalism!

Our council is very reluctant to paint the road because when the disabled person moves the space remains. Even blue badge holders don’t get them here. For that reason I’d always give a sign like that the benefit of the doubt and avoid parking there.

Totally derailing the chat but I live near a shop and years ago I had some park on my drive. When I told him to get off he pointed to his blue badge, gave me the fingers and walked off.

We still laugh about it now. I'm actually chuckling in bed

Not as simple as that. Takes an age in some areas regardless of whether you’re genuinely disabled or not. Also, disabled parking bays aren’t reserved for a specific individual even if it’s them who requested it and it’s outside their house - any disabled blue badge holder can use it.
Vandalism obviously not acceptable though.

Yes, I'm absolutely certain my council didn't paint a sign on the ground 🙄 I might be disabled, but I'm not stupid.

They were unable to designate a painted space where I used to live, due to the layout of the pavement and road. So yes, they absolutely did provide me with a sign, which they told me to put in my window. I've moved since, but my sign is still visible on Google maps.

HTH.

This.
I suppose anyone can put any sign they want in their window but no one has to obey it. I also wouldn’t be peering at people’s windows if I was parking a car so wouldn’t notice it.

Even having a disabled bay outside the house doesn't prevent anyone parking in it. It's a courtesy not to park in a white disabled bay, they are advisory only.

Yellow marked disabled bays are the only ones that are enforceable. You can be fined for parking in them without a valid blue badge.

Report the criminal damage to your car.

@BIossomtoes If you get a disabled bay painted it is your responsibility to tell the council when you move or are no longer entitled to the bay. The council may remove them or leave them depending on the likehood of use by other blue badge holders in the area.

Some councils charge for disabled bays outside houses to add or remove them. It's all very council dependent.

Enforceable signs are installed by councils on walls etc. Most commonly for adapted vehicles.

The sign itself is fine - some people cannot have a disabled parking bay and some folk can but it can be used by others with a blue badge, and they live somewhere where this happens often.

This is the exact situation my friend is in - she really needs to park on the street outside her house, her accessible vehicle can't go on the drive (well, it can, but she can't get in or out of it if it is there), she can't park over her own dropped kerb (parking permit area, she has checked!)...

If the space outside her home is taken by someone else, she can't get out of her vehicle, and parking is hard to find, when you need to park with the side-access ramp on a decent bit of pavement with room to use the ramp, not on a gradient that is too steep in an area full of steep hills and narrow pavements.

So she has a sign on the fence outside her house asking people not to park there, and generally, they don't. Occasionally they do.

She would not scrawl on someones car, sometimes I wish she would leave a polite note, but she won't even do that. She is just asking people for some consideration for her situation, but knows she can't demand that space in any way.

So long story short - I would report this - not for the sign, but for writing something offensive on your car. There really is no excuse!

I never implied anyone was stupid 🙄 Is this what psychiatry calls "projecting"?

It's a weird setup, relying on a parking restriction sign displayed only on someone's window.

I apologise for asking a question so I could clarify something that I was not familiar with - and, I maintain, sounds odd and badly thought out.

BW

I'm disabled and walking causes me terrible pain. That doesn't give me the right to vandalise someone's car because I wish I had their (non blue-badge) parking space.

I wouldn't assume someone with this sign was even disabled. Plenty of able-bodied people have no scruples at all about using disabled spaces and certainly would put up one of these signs to make parking easier on a busy street.

YANBU in any way.

@WiddlinDiddlin

Sounds better to install the sign on the fence or the wall, if it's a reflective one as well (the sign, not the wall) drivers stand a chance of actually spotting it in the dark.

Even if this was a council approved disabled bay unless it has a specific blue badge number on the road markings any one with a blue badge would be entitled to use it.

I live on a busy road and we ehave a disabled bay outside of our house which was requested from the council due to my son’s disability. It is a general disabled bay which means that anyone can park in it as long as they have a blue badge. We really do need this space as my son’s wheelchair is large and cumbersome - it weighs 34kg we need a ramp and a winch to get it in and out of the van. I have never scrawled a note on or damaged someone’s car due to them parking there in the bay. If it was a bay dedicated to my son it would have for use by badge no 1234 only.

Honestly, plenty of people wouldn't look at the window of the house they're parking in front of, they just see the space and park there. OP even said they didn't see the sign when parking.
OP hasn't parked in a restricted area, it was on a legal patch of road with no painted bay, she's done nothing wrong.
I'm a blue badge user myself, but don't qualify for a painted bay, and i honestly wouldn't trust the sign in someones window even if i did see it to be a council issued legitimate sign, unless theres some specific council code/stamp etc. I'd think it was just like Radar keys for the disabled toilets - Anyone can pay a couple of quid to get one online so they're no guarantee the user is really disabled.
I blame the shocking state of parking these days as so many homes don't have driveways, and streets weren't originally built with the idea that every home would also have a car, never mind adult children or multi occupancy meaning some houses have several cars. Sometimes you just have to park where you can find a legal space, and occasionally someones going to get arsey about you being outside their house.
A previous neighbour of mine once had a sign in his window, "Billys parking, all others will be towed" and he actually spray-painted bay lines with "Billys parking" between them on the road! (They had an awful massive Range Rover on a terrace street, and he was also very generous with the gap he wanted either side) His wife appeared at our house banging on the door when my dad parked there once, swearing, demanding he move. When he declined as they don't own the road, she threatened Billy was going to come and beat my dad up! My dad told her he was welcome to do so, but be aware he would not hit him back, and would call the police for assault, and given it was a few days before christmas maybe he didn't want to spend it in a police cell. She huffed off mutter swearing, but Billy did not appear. Its even worse for parking now, as there's 3 HMO'S that i know of, possibly more, one for four seperate occupants and 2 for three occupants a piece, on the street. The width of the victorian terraces are barely wider than the average car length, with just enough room to manouvre in if everyone parked perfectly one car outside one house.
Of course there are several arseholes who either cannot manouvre, or don't want to, or are selfish and don't trust other drivers to be good drivers to get in and out of normal sized spaces without hitting their car, who deliberately take up a space with enough room for 2 cars, by parking in the middle, so theres a massive 4ish foot gap either side of their car that's not big enough for anyone else to get in.
A few weeks ago one CF tried to park like that WHILST we were right behind them, waiting for them to pull forward to park behind, and they could see there were no other big enough gaps on the street to park elsewhere. Had to pull forward angling in to the space behind them making it very clear we intended to park there for them to eventually pull forward to make room, and when both parked they still had a near 2 foot gap either side of them clear. If we hadn't have come down the road at the same time right behind them they absolutely would have parked middle of the big space.

Is OP parking in that space if the occupant really is disabled frustrating? Absolutely! Does it give them the right to vandalise OP's car? Absolutely not! I don't even think leaving a polite note (on paper) would have been acceptable as OP wasn't parked illegally or inconsiderately (eg, taking up the middle of a space big enough for 2 cars).

Whether you were in the wrong or not, it does not give anyone the right to deface your car. I would report that.

Parking on the road unless the council sign is open to all. I think the vandalism to your car is inexcusable and I would report it. No one has a right to that space unless it is granted to them. I think the signs people put up should not allowed.

Thank you for explaining that. You’ve missed the point. Our council won’t do it.

Even if the sign is legit OP's car was vandalised. She needs to report it.

A quick shufty on Google maps shows a different sign in 2022! At that time they just wanted No Parking and warned of 24hr CCTV in operation...on a public street with no parking restrictions.
Your update adds context.
I'd say this is not a courtesy request from a disabled person struggling to get on with life.
I doubt the police would act but that said I'd put it post them a letter detailing your Google research making you doubt turner validity of their claim to being disabled , referencing their interference/damage to your car and saying that you've reported to police.

Yeah tbh I don’t have sympathy for the ‘poor disabled people just trying to park thing’ when I take my Mum out with her blue badge I’ve had so much full on abuse because they see me getting out (I would say clearly not disabled but there are hidden disabilities so….) and start to rant and rave that they need the space more when all I am doing is moving round to the other side to then let out my (very clearly disabled) mother.

I’ve had people sounding their horn as I have even started to turn into a space and brandishing their blue badge at me out the window shouting and bawling, all sorts so yeah, limited sympathy.

Did you take photos? Did you report to the police. Requiring a disabled space doesn't justify vandalism.

Report to the police

Well they might if you can afford to pay for one and it meets highways rules etc ……the general view that the council will do something for nothing to be helpful is quite laughable.

Exactly. I genuinely needed one. I have a WAV with a ramp, and if someone parks anywhere near the back of my car, I can't get out. Or in. This wasn't enough for them to paint a space for me (and my next door neighbour didn't care anyway. She'd park an inch from my bumper and told me she hates disabled people).

Thankfully I have moved. But yeah. Councils really, really don't care.

I would report the vandalism to the police.

I am not sure these signs are actually enforceable. At pick up time at my children's school parking is wild and someone had a sign like this. I always left a space for them but others would then just park in it. They have now had a proper disabled bay painted.

I would assume the people in this scenario do have a genuine disability but perhaps don't want to pay for the space to be official.

No marked disabled bay, the person has to take their chances I’m afraid. Their beef is with the council, not you. I say this as a person with a blue badge and higher rate mobility PIP, so I’m fully aware of the struggles 🤷‍♀️ It’s a public highway, you didn’t do anything wrong.