Woman shouted at me for parking in a disabled spot

[AusMumhere]

I parked in a disabled spot at the supermarket today. A woman about four cars away shouted at me and said 'that's a wheelie spot'. I shouted back 'I have a permit'. She then yelled 'where's ya walker?'. I said 'not all disabilities are visible'. I hate confrontation of any kind.
Should I have walked away or should I have responded? I'm still in shock that I shouted.

Because we often stop on the way home from going out.

Again I’m not missing it and I won’t be risking my son not making the toilet because other people wrongly interpret the rules

Werent you the posters who went out with a friend who used her husbands BB?

From Gov website -

You can only use your badge when:

• you’re driving
• you’re travelling in a car as a passenger
• someone is picking you up or dropping you off, and they need to park close to where you need to go

So, not sitting in the car just in case.

I had no idea my friend was going to pull out her husband's BB. And as a passenger in her car, I was a pretty captive audience. I didn't agree with her misuse of the BB at all.
And before you tell me that I should have told her off, or whatever, she died during Covid.

Angry lady: 'that's a wheelie spot'
OP 'Are you sure?'
Angry lady 'Yes'
OP 'Are you wheeeely sure?'

My DS does travel as a passenger in the car. Unless you think it means badge holders have to through themselves out in transit, this means when parked as well.

And you can only use a BB space if the holder is also getting in or out of the car.
If the BB holder is sitting in the car, then that is a misuse of the BB. If they are not leaving the car, they do not need to be in a BB space. You can park elsewhere.

You’re wrong and attacking other posters doesn’t make you right. The only person misinterpreting the rules is you. I was a disability outreach worker for many years and advised on badge rules almost daily - I’ve come across every scenario you can think of and l know the rules inside out. It’s illegal for you or any other driver of the car to park in a disabled bay and display the badge if the disabled person intends to remain in the car. The need your DS has is to access a toilet as and when the need arises, not to sit inside the car just in case, while everyone else exits the car and does their own thing. It’s misuse.

It’s not an entirely different situation, it’s exactly the same thing as you describe. You and any other family members who drive your son around are in exactly the same situation - legally you are designated drivers for the badge holder, and as such not entitled to display the badge and park in a disabled bay unless it’s directly for the benefit of the badge holder. If the badge holder is not getting out of the car, then it’s not for their direct benefit. Can’t be bothered with this any more, it’s exhausting and derailing the OP’s thread.

It’s your DH running into the shop that’s the misuse. You must know this. If not you need to familiarise yourself with the actual rules, not just how you interpret them. If a parking attendant asked to see the badge and realised that the person to whom it was issued was still in the car while someone else had run into the shop, no amount of arguing the potential need for your DS to access a toilet quickly would suffice. The need hasn’t arisen, and your DH is abusing the blue badge.

Councils can cancel your blue badge or not renew it if you break rules such as parking in a BB bay and holder sits in the car. BB bays are closer to entrances and are wider to accommodate able to open doors wider.

These people are preventing those BB holders to use the bays when they are actually going to get out of the car.

Can’t find the story. A couple got fined for parking in a disabled bay when the husband left the car leaving his disabled wife in it.

A quick Google and I found this https://www.coventry.gov.uk/parking-2/disabled-blue-badge-scheme/7#:~:text=It%20is%20now%20a%20criminal,allows%20other%20to%20misuse%20it.

Good on you!

Those spaces, which spaces?

The ones near the front of the store might be much more needed for someone who doesn't have a walking aid, but struggles to walk distances.

I have a power chair, the store could be a fucking mile away, I do not care - I need room to get the bugger out without getting the ramps squashed/myself run over, but I do not need to be two inches from the door.

When I had a manual chair, on the whole I still did not need to be that close to the door, not say compared to someone using a walker or crutches (does depend on if the parking site is on a slope though... I really couldn't do up hill, in fact doing uphill is why I knackered my shoulders and now need a power chair).

There are myriad disabilities, some visible, some not, and everyones needs are different.

Acessible parking spaces for blue badge holders meet some very very basic criteria - wider spaces, near to the store entrance/walkaways. That is it.

Many do not even meet those criteria well - my friend has a side ramp and often finds the disabled spaces useless where they have a shared hatched area rather than a hatched area each, which can mean her ramp is blocked when people assume the hatched area is for 'their space' and park in it to allow greater access to one side of their vehicle. And no, people do not read signs on the sides or rear windows that state how much space we need.

I need safe rear access - but most of the spaces are front of store with bollards in the centre, so you can't reverse in and unload onto the pavement. So I have to unload straight into the road-way, as there is no extra space behind the vehicle and my vehicle is quite long anyway.

I also can't typically use road side spaces where you park alongside the pavement, as there either is no space behind to unload or if there is now, there won't be when I return (again, people do not read signs!).

So the spaces we have now do not meet everyones needs. Idiots going around being the bloody blue badge police need to fuck off!

If you think someone shouldn't use a space, either no badge or you truly think they're using someone elses badge - report to the carpark owner or local authority. If you think they are using someone elses badge, take a note of the badge number and report it.

That is all you can do. It is not your job to approach people and query their use of a badge!

If you think someone shouldn't use a space, either no badge or you truly think they're using someone elses badge - report to the carpark owner or local authority. If you think they are using someone elses badge, take a note of the badge number and report it.

Great, that is what disabled people really need on top of everything else, people deciding whether they 'think' people are using other peoples badges, and reporting people.

Some good points here. A while ago our local supermarket ran a trial whereby they designated a few spaces nearest the entrance to be specifically reserved for wheelchair users, and invited people to share their thoughts via email. I thought it was batshit and told them so, pointing out much of what you’ve said here - that basically the entrance could be half a mile away and it wouldn’t make any difference to me because l’m in a wheelchair, but would certainly have an impact on anyone whose walking ability was impaired.

Also pointed out that in a car park where disabled parking facilities were limited to begin with, it didn’t make sense to have half a dozen spaces nearest the door standing empty on the off chance a wheelchair user would need them, while other disabled users were struggling to find somewhere to park. I also suggested that if they wanted to be helpful they could provide a couple of larger than standard disabled bays to accommodate those who needed a ramp. A few weeks later things were back to normal so l guess l wasn’t the only one who thought it was mad - still waiting for word on that larger space though !!

I think this demonstrates that unless you have experience of disability, you’re not really best placed to decide what’s helpful and what isn’t, however well intentioned you may be. And I agree with your last point. It’s not the job of the public to police disabled people who are displaying a valid badge. If you think something is amiss then take the badge number and report it - let the authorities deal with it. Disabled people have enough challenges to face without being subjected to arsehole ‘gotcha’ behaviour every time they try to park.

Agreed. My Dad has a condition that means that he suffers severe pain in his leg and had to stop walking every 100m or so. The doctors said that any treatment might result in the loss of his leg entirely, so he has chosen to live with the pain and stop regularly.

Despite this, he was not eligible for a blue badge as the walking distance requirement is 50m.

I have just returned to university to study nursing and have a disabled permit. I have been approached as I was going into a tutorial by a fellow classmate, demanding that I explain myself. I said that I have a medical condition. She demanded to know what exactly. I asked if she would like to have this conversation in our Law tutorial instead.... She realised I wasn't going to tolerate this kind of badgering from her and she backed down, but I know she's desperate to find out. I even heard "What if it's contagious?" I'm diarising these comments that I overheard and asking friends to do the same without commenting and I am going to take them to the head of department. This is bullying and it is against the code of conduct. If she wants to be the parking permit police, she can go and join the relevant department and not waste space studying to be a nurse.

My father had MS, sometimes he could walk but without any warning his legs might fail. He would end up on the ground. What if the person has something where they can walk with difficulty? What if the passenger if the car was blind and was being led to the gig?

Also we are applying for my mother who has dementia. She has a few issues with balance but the main thing is to stop her wandering out in front of a car. Also means there is more likely to be parking spaces as you can’t drop her off and park as she’ll wander off. My brother had to circle a hospital car park looking for a space the other day at an appointment for her. There were disabled bays available but nothing else. As I said he can’t just drop her off and go and park as she’ll wander off or get upset.

@Bashfulclam not all accessible spaces require a blue badge.just for future if you don't see a specific BB sign you can park in a disabled bay.

Gently and with respect, as a disabled person and wheelchair user, disabled people do have a sense of humour - not being able to laugh at your own situation makes things harder I think. I appreciate it’s a difficult area because what’s offensive to one person may not be to another, but generally speaking I find the idea of non disabled people taking offence on my behalf a bit off. I was actually berated on a thread on MN a while back for referring to myself as wheelchair bound - told in no uncertain terms that was offensive and I am a ‘wheelchair user’. I found it really offensive to be told what language I can and cannot use to refer to myself. Disabled people have enough challenges to face as it is.

I didn’t actually know that despite having a blue badge for my dad. That is helpful.

This needs to be qualified. All on street disabled bays and those in public car parks are exclusively for the use of blue badge holders. The spaces will have the wheelchair marking on the floor and the signage will include the blue and white wheelchair plate and denote that blue badges are required to be displayed. Some will also specify a time limit and require the display of the clock.

Private car parks sometimes provide concessionary disabled spaces - the difference being that there will be no blue and white wheelchair plate, and/or the signage won’t include an instruction to display the badge. Most supermarket car parks require the badge to be displayed and there’ll be a fine for not doing so. My own feeling is that, just as with parent and child spaces, which are concessionary only, these BB spaces should be left for those who need them as far as possible.

I mean obviously you can't if there is a Bb sign.

Do you know what you have to do to get a blue badge? It has to be signed off eg by a social worker. You have to prove that you need it. You can be disabled and not qualify for a badge. My daughter has epilepsy but we haven't claimed. So anyone who does have one needs it.

I’ve had this said to me a few times when parking in a ‘wheelie spot’. One time I was having a really shitty day when some silly cow just stood staring at me then had the cheek to say ‘you don’t look disabled’ to which my reply was you don’t look like a c*nt but there you go! . it just flew out of my mouth with no warning! 🤦‍♀️