Blue badge police again

[Rainburstflowers]

Name changes for this as I do every so often.
I have blue badge but my disability is not visible.
For the 3rs time in 2 weeks I have been challenged about not looking disabled and I am fed up of explaining myself

yesterday got out the car and this man came charging towards me shouting “oi you don’t have a blue badge”. I sighed and said “yes I do”. He then said “where did you nick that from?”
I said “I didn’t nick it from anyone I got it off eBay”
He then looked at me and said “oh right and walked off”
as if that was then ok!!!!
or it could be my built like a brick shithouse husband opened his door and got out the drivers seat.

I know I should not have said the eBay comment but I am fed up of explaining myself.

if anyone has any good comebacks please let me know

Yep, because BB police prefer to publicly harangue disabled people when all they have to do is take the badge number and report their concerns to the issuing authority. Who then probably file them under ‘doesn’t look disabled enough’ !!

I was diagnosed with arthritis at 26. So I have had a blue badge for decades and yes people have asked me about it or assumed I'd borrowed it, "Is that your Nan's badge?"

Tiring isn't it.

Just a point - you are not allowed to use the blue badge if the disabled person stays in the car. Not practical I know. I had the problem with my dad who was so short of breath he couldn’t walk. I had dropped him off at the beach and parked elsewhere and then when I wanted to use a disabled bay to pick him up police said that was not allowed. I can’t remember how we solved the problem but it was very awkward.

The guy running maybe also had bowel condition - had to get to the toilet fast!

The police were wrong. You can park in a disabled bay, displaying the badge if you are picking up or dropping off the disabled person to whom the badge belongs. For example if you were returning to pick him up from the beach, and he is walking/being wheeled back to the car then you would park in a disabled bay nearest where you were collecting him, displaying his badge, as he is the one benefitting. What you can’t do is park in a disabled bay if the disabled person is not the one getting out. If you’re in any doubt you can ask your local authority for the guidance leaflet on how to use a disabled badge legally.

They check the blue badges for fraud, aka check it is a genuine card. This happened to me last week whilst parked up to shop in the nearest city to where I live

If he had to walk further as a result, then that sounds wrong. The point of the BB is to facilitate him, when he is out, and about.

My usual response that shocks people and I also have a sticker of this on my mobility scooter is

"I don't look disabled - and you don't look stupid but clearly we are both wrong" leaves people stunned.

I had a pearler on the bus some years ago.

Two older women got on. The bus was packed. I was in a disabled seat with access allowed for persons with a baby buggy.

They started complaining about people taking seats they weren't entitled too.

1 woman had a baby in a buggy, the other woman looked clearly disabled, and I didn't.

The 2 other women said to the older women "do you mean us?" They said "oh no no not you"

I then said " you obviously mean me!"

I then showed them my disabled bus pass saying " I will swap you my invisible health conditions happily for an able bodied persons. I have fibromyalgia, a stomach and bowel condition and significant mental health issues. Just because I don't look like a bag lady doesn't mean I'm not disabled. Don't judge s book by it's cover"

Clearly they were stunned and looked away. They were only in the bus for 2 stops before they get off anyway 🙄

It is wrong. One of the problems facing disabled people is that many police and parking wardens don’t fully understand the rules. I was parked perfectly legally on double yellow lines, displaying the clock and badge. I came back to the car to find a warden writing a ticket. No amount of pointing out that l wasn’t causing an obstruction or otherwise contravening blue badge rules would suffice because she was adamant l just wasn’t allowed to park on double yellows. I successfully challenged the ticket - total waste of time and money for all concerned.

Start breathing irregularly and tell them you think you’re having a heart attack.

Why were the police there and why were they interested in your parking?

That would be a legitimate parking warden not a random nosy on the street !!

The police do random checks on disabled badges - especially if it’s on street parking and near a tourist type attraction. If it was a routine check and the disabled person wasn’t in the car they would question the situation. And in this case they got it wrong. OP was perfectly entitled to park in a disabled bay and display her dads badge if she was picking him up - it’s for his benefit.

Wow.

Personally I would say nothing to the blue-badge screaming and shouting pedants, I have to drive my sister around, she is blue-badge, I am not, I'm also 6'4" and built like a Tram Shed, but I'm not remotely aggressive, and would never be, a book shouldn't be judged by it's cover (as I have been, for decades) nothing has happened as yet, but if someone did yell at me, I wouldn't even look at them, let alone respond, just go about my business.......😊

There are 3 BB spaces outside our Asda invariably filled with SUVs who don't display badges... I do glare at them as I hobble past with my aid but too timid to say anything to the men in the drivers seats on their phones. Yes I have a BB, would appreciate being able to find a space to use it!

I saw a fairly fit, healthy looking man coming out of a disabled toilet be accosted by an older man with a stick. The dead stare as he lifted up his t-shirt to show his stoma, and then walked away. Older man with stick spluttering and “how was I to know”-ing. Older lady with stick “shut up, get in the loo if you’re going, and let this be a lesson to mind you own business” 😂

While I don't blame him for showing it, the problem is that that kind of behaviour reinforces the idea that disabilities are visible. There are so many profoundly disabling conditions where there is nothing to "show"

If you read what I actually said. I said I didn't know about the legalities but morally it was a dick move.

Please tell where where I said you condoned it? 🤔

I had no idea this was under police ‘duties’ - particularly strange as they didn’t seem to know the rules they should be checking people for.

Any police officer or parking warden can ask to see the badge at any time. Where disabled parking is on street, if they see something that doesn’t look right they will ask to see the badge. Sometimes their interpretation of the rules around parking on double yellow lines or how the badge is used in a disabled bay is not correct, as evidenced by OP being wrongly told she couldn’t park in a disabled bay when picking up her dad - the badge holder.

I have, when I could travel in non-adapted cars, I was forever leaving it in my sisters car!

I've also come back to the car to find its fell off the dash board.

My bestie forgot to renew hers for almost a bloody year once!

Disabled folks are just as fallible as everyone else... but in any case, you've missed my point quite spectacularly.

Unfortunately disabled people don’t always get priority. I’m a wheelchair user and have a stoma. There was a queue for the ladies toilet in my local supermarket, so I tried to use the accessible loo and was told by a member of staff that I would have to wait my turn because there was a queue and that they had included the accessible toilet to speed things along. I ended up abandoning my shopping and going home because my stoma needed attention. I actually emailed the store manager but got nowhere.

My mother used to really through them off track with "I have terminal cancer, is that enough for you".

I got your point thanks. And my point was that the law is the law, regardless of whether you don’t have a badge and are taking the mick, or you have one and have left it at home. No badge, no parking. There is a difference between fallible and careless. Been a disability outreach worker for many years and don’t know anyone with a casual attitude towards their badge because it’s so important for access when you have difficulties, and generally disabled people can’t really afford repeated hefty fines.