Page 7 | Blue badge police again

Rainburstflowers · 2025-04-11T08:00:23+00:00

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

PoppyTheGuineaPig · 11/04/2025 12:47

RejoiceandSing · 11/04/2025 12:06

Would you like to pop your photo ID on display on your dashboard?

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Not really but it might shut some of the haters up. That said maybe not. Some of these ableists will still have a go.

BifferBuddy · 11/04/2025 12:49

I just tell people Ive got a form of psychosis and am susceptible to violent outbursts. Though funnily enough I must look it as I’ve only been challenged once

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 11/04/2025 12:51

Tessasanderson · 11/04/2025 09:44

I can never understand blue badge holders moaning about this. Can they not see that the person doing the asking is trying to protect the blue badge holders right to that space?

In the current society there are not many people who will actually put themselves out for whats right and wrong. See someone getting beaten up, turn away. See someone stealing, turn away. See someone parking in a disabled space to protect their Range Rover, turn away.

So once in a while they get it wrong and ask someone with a not obvious disability if they are genuine. Is that such a hardship for someone actually having some social concerns?

Or maybe they just start to wonder if its worth it, ignore it all and let blue badge holders cry about lack of parking in future because no one gives a stuff.

It is never ok to shout at someone because you don't think they look disabled.

PoppyTheGuineaPig · 11/04/2025 12:51

As a pp said, it should be as easy as if someone has a badge, they shouldn't be challenged. Sadly, we live in a world that seems to believe there is a mass epidemic of people faking disability, as opposed.to a few bad apples do that very thing.

Randomparking · 11/04/2025 12:52

If a vehicle is displaying a valid, in date, blue badge, then it is not up to anyone else to challenge its validity. I would be very happy, however, for 'blue badge police' to challenge anyone and everyone using a disabled space without a badge - even if 'it's only for a few seconds whilst I use the bank machine / wait for my wife to nip to the chemist / just waiting to pick up my friend ...'

PoppyTheGuineaPig · 11/04/2025 12:53

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 11/04/2025 12:51

It is never ok to shout at someone because you don't think they look disabled.

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But do they genuinely have concerns or are they ableist goady fuckers? If someone has been given a badge, then walk away. You don't know how they've been given it. End of.

TeenLifeMum · 11/04/2025 12:56

This is why my mum won’t get a badge - worried they don’t look disabled enough. They both have cancer ffs but she doesn’t want the argument.

Hellokittysmum · 11/04/2025 13:00

ExtraOnions · 11/04/2025 10:21

Blue Badges should be there for people who need to park closer to the facility. There are lots of reasons for this, some are not visible.

There are also people who have a Blue Badge who do not need to park closer to the facility, but do park there, because they have a Blue Badge.

There are also people who fraudulently use badges - either the disabled person is not with them, or they have bought a dodgy one.

The only people who lose out in any of this are disabled people who need to be parked close to the facility, often for mobility issues.

i knew someone who had a Blue Badge because they were deaf .. no mobility issues.. couid have left a space free for a wheelchair users, but didn’t.

Not necessarily. I have a blue badge because I struggle to get on and out of the car (I have a back problem which means I can't twist) so I need the wider spaces. I can't walk long distances but I can walk.

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 11/04/2025 13:00

PoppyTheGuineaPig · 11/04/2025 12:53

But do they genuinely have concerns or are they ableist goady fuckers? If someone has been given a badge, then walk away. You don't know how they've been given it. End of.

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Yes. That's pretty much what I was saying in my reply to tessasanderson

WiddlinDiddlin · 11/04/2025 13:01

Ah yes @Tessasanderson my mistake, the man shouting right in my face, bits of spittle flying, eyes popping, calling me a fat lazy slag...demanding to see the back of my badge because he's certain I've borrowed it off my Nan..

He just wanted to protect disabled peoples rights.

The fun thing is when you're fat and disabled, you can be IN your (NHS supplied) wheelchair and still be told you're not really disabled, screamed at in public, threatened and abused. It is obviously the weight that caused the disability, it couldn't possibly be the other way around.

And he is just the latest example, he's not a one off by any means.

I bet if you were berated regularly and told to your face that you're a liar and a cheat, you'd complain a bit too.

Bobbie1976 · 11/04/2025 13:04

Iamthequeenoftheworld · 11/04/2025 11:58

He could run huh?

all them paralympics people would be shocked to find out they are not disabled

Paralympics

Edited

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He claimed he had a seriously sore leg and back.

jellyfishperiwinkle · 11/04/2025 13:05

My mum has the blue badge, I am the driver. Fully checked out by someone as I bounced out of the car and round to my mum's side to help her into her chair at hospital the other day.

Then a pick up truck pulled up next to us, horizontally across the two remaining spaces, with no badge. Using the invisible "my vehicle is too large for a normal space and I'm shit at parking" badge. Kind of makes you wonder why you bother.

unsync · 11/04/2025 13:08

Tessasanderson · 11/04/2025 09:44

I can never understand blue badge holders moaning about this. Can they not see that the person doing the asking is trying to protect the blue badge holders right to that space?

In the current society there are not many people who will actually put themselves out for whats right and wrong. See someone getting beaten up, turn away. See someone stealing, turn away. See someone parking in a disabled space to protect their Range Rover, turn away.

So once in a while they get it wrong and ask someone with a not obvious disability if they are genuine. Is that such a hardship for someone actually having some social concerns?

Or maybe they just start to wonder if its worth it, ignore it all and let blue badge holders cry about lack of parking in future because no one gives a stuff.

Pish. You've obviously never been on the receiving end. The only question even remotely acceptable would be questioning someone parking in a blue bay if they are not displaying their badge, ie "are you aware you are in BB parking bay without a BB?" If they have a badge, any questioning is discrimination.

If you think the Badge is fraudulent, report it.

PensionedCruiser · 11/04/2025 13:10

DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 11/04/2025 09:21

I work for a local council and we get so many emails complaining about blue badge fraud, usually of the "how did they get a blue badge, they don't look disabled" variety.

The most professional I am allowed to be at work is the "not every disability is visible" line but unfortunately people are just generally stupid and/or have too much time on their hands.

That'll be the same people complaining that we receive PIP fraudulently. The answer is the same.

LadyKenya · 11/04/2025 13:11

PoppyTheGuineaPig · 11/04/2025 11:58

Ah, I see. It's weird they do it that way.

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Well, I for one do not wish to have my photo sitting there, for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to look at. If a traffic warden needs to see the reverse, for whatever reason, I am more than happy to comply.

Herewegoagainandagainandagain · 11/04/2025 13:17

Funnywonder · 11/04/2025 12:37

You just need to ignore them. You only have to see some of the ignoramuses on here to know that some people (a) aren’t capable of minding their own business or (b) think they know more than they actually do. My son has Crohn’s Disease and is entitled to use a toilet for disabled people. But it has a picture of a stick person in a wheelchair on the door, so some people seem to believe that nobody else is permitted to use it. I don’t bother my arse explaining. If my son is bursting to do a wee he has to go into the general toilets like anyone else, but if he is having a flare up, then it’s probably in everyone’s interests if he can access a single occupancy toilet pretty damn quick.

I loathe the toilet police.

My adult niece had UC and after an ileostomy now has a stoma. It is hard enough for a young woman to have to deal with having a bag and the other very personal changes to her body without being regularly challenged, by the general public, but most frequently by staff in the venue, for using accessible toilets.

The toilet police don't just ask, when she replies she is eligible to use them, they continue to challenge with the usual stupid comments such as you don't look disabled etc until she gets upset to the point she flashes her stoma at them before they will back down.

She is feisty so when she comes out she will ask to speak to the staff member and their manager and make sure they know the impact it has on her, and she gets an apology, later she will write to their HQ to complain. But it affects her day and knocks her confidence going out just a little bit more every time it happens.

Once she used a normal toilet because the accessible was in use/there was a queue and her bag was leaking - not ideal as she needs access to a sink too. She ended up with banging on the door and being shouted at to open the door now because a staff member had been in another cubicle/heard rustling as she sorted herself out, went and got a 2nd staff member and accused her of shop lifting. Again she had to share her private medical information to satisfy them.

Blue badge / toilet police really need to check themselves. Is it really worth the impact it has on genuinely disabled people?

miniaturepixieonacid · 11/04/2025 13:22

I just don't get what people think they are going to achieve by challenging people parking in disabled spaces. Even if they're right and the person has no blue badge and no disability. What is going to happen:
'Do you have the right to park there?'
'No.'
'Will you please move your car so a blue badge holder can have the space.'
'No.'

Not much more to be done, is there! Especially as most people who seem to do this challenging (judging by this thread) are older, less able people.

jellyfishperiwinkle · 11/04/2025 13:23

Herewegoagainandagainandagain · 11/04/2025 13:17

I loathe the toilet police.

My adult niece had UC and after an ileostomy now has a stoma. It is hard enough for a young woman to have to deal with having a bag and the other very personal changes to her body without being regularly challenged, by the general public, but most frequently by staff in the venue, for using accessible toilets.

The toilet police don't just ask, when she replies she is eligible to use them, they continue to challenge with the usual stupid comments such as you don't look disabled etc until she gets upset to the point she flashes her stoma at them before they will back down.

She is feisty so when she comes out she will ask to speak to the staff member and their manager and make sure they know the impact it has on her, and she gets an apology, later she will write to their HQ to complain. But it affects her day and knocks her confidence going out just a little bit more every time it happens.

Once she used a normal toilet because the accessible was in use/there was a queue and her bag was leaking - not ideal as she needs access to a sink too. She ended up with banging on the door and being shouted at to open the door now because a staff member had been in another cubicle/heard rustling as she sorted herself out, went and got a 2nd staff member and accused her of shop lifting. Again she had to share her private medical information to satisfy them.

Blue badge / toilet police really need to check themselves. Is it really worth the impact it has on genuinely disabled people?

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My mum has a Macmillan card she can just hand to someone to say she is having cancer treatment and may need a toilet urgently. I wonder if another relevant charity could do something like that, so people don't have to explain?

AthWat · 11/04/2025 13:23

To be fair I knew someone ( I won't specify who, but all this is first hand, not reported to me) whose father had a blue badge which he just about qualified for which his mother used to use all the time when he wasn't in the car. She even tried to get this person to use it when going out alone saying "you can just say you're picking him up". When this person argued that not only did they not want to abuse the system, but really had no desire to park in the disabled spots at the supermarket as it wasn't even any advantage to them, the mother couldn't really understand why anyone wouldn't want to take anything from the system they could get just becasue it was there to be taken.

LadyKenya · 11/04/2025 13:26

AthWat · 11/04/2025 13:23

To be fair I knew someone ( I won't specify who, but all this is first hand, not reported to me) whose father had a blue badge which he just about qualified for which his mother used to use all the time when he wasn't in the car. She even tried to get this person to use it when going out alone saying "you can just say you're picking him up". When this person argued that not only did they not want to abuse the system, but really had no desire to park in the disabled spots at the supermarket as it wasn't even any advantage to them, the mother couldn't really understand why anyone wouldn't want to take anything from the system they could get just becasue it was there to be taken.

Edited

Which he just about qualified for? A person either qualifies for a BB, or does not, hth.

AthWat · 11/04/2025 13:29

LadyKenya · 11/04/2025 13:26

Which he just about qualified for? A person either qualifies for a BB, or does not, hth.

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That's what you chose to pick up on?

In fact he didn't qualify at all. He lied to the doctors to my sure and certain knowledge. I just didn't want to get into that as I am sure people will argue it's impossible.

This was about 20 years ago, if it makes any difference.

Bonbon249 · 11/04/2025 13:31

I'd ask if they were the police or a council official - no? Well, I don't have to explain a darn thing to you so off you f*ck!

BlueTitShark · 11/04/2025 13:32

CwmYoy · 11/04/2025 11:30

There is a lot of Blue Badge fraud so I can understand why people are concerned.

As a wheelchair user I need the extra space around the car to get in and out and to get the chair out. A lot of badge holders (like my nephew) don't need that extra space so maybe there should be a two tier form of parking. Leave the extra space for those who cannot access the are without it.

A lot of fraud…

Can you clarify that one?
Do you mean people getting a BB when they shouldn’t?
Or people using other people’s BB?
Or random people thinking they know best and actually getting it wrong?

dizzydizzydizzy · 11/04/2025 13:33

x2boys · 11/04/2025 09:51

Or maybe they could just accept a blue bsdge has been issued for a valid reason?

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Exactly this!

Frozenpeace · 11/04/2025 13:34

Tessasanderson · 11/04/2025 09:44

I can never understand blue badge holders moaning about this. Can they not see that the person doing the asking is trying to protect the blue badge holders right to that space?

In the current society there are not many people who will actually put themselves out for whats right and wrong. See someone getting beaten up, turn away. See someone stealing, turn away. See someone parking in a disabled space to protect their Range Rover, turn away.

So once in a while they get it wrong and ask someone with a not obvious disability if they are genuine. Is that such a hardship for someone actually having some social concerns?

Or maybe they just start to wonder if its worth it, ignore it all and let blue badge holders cry about lack of parking in future because no one gives a stuff.

There isn't a "disabled look" though. And it's a huge burden to place on people who "don't look disabled" to say they have to justify hostility every time they go out and about