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

I’m about to get a blue badge so this was very useful. Thank you all. I haven’t decided whether I will just ignore people or say “you don’t look like a judgemental busybody”

While I’m definitely not defending people using disabled spaces to use a cash machine. I’ve seen a mum with DC in the car harassed for doing exactly that when there was half a row of spaces free (evening time outside a supermarket).

It did make me think that it was about the bloke who had a go at her making himself feel heroic, not defending the spaces for people who might need them.

The sunflower scheme has badges and lanyards.

No it’s not.

It’s equivalent to having a billboard with your photo on, and having ‘I’m disabled enough to qualify for a blue badge’ written next to it. Would you want that for you? Where anyone who wanted to look, could see it? Did BB holders lose any semblance of privacy as well as their health?

There’s only one reason anyone would need to see the holder’s photo. And there’s only a very small number of people who are entitled to see it. Everyone else should be minding their own business.

Sorry I meant when he is asked to show the blue badge by the person questioning him, he has it prominently displayed as it's usually the first thing they ask after telling him it's a disabled space and he shouldn't be parked there

Just pull your phone out and pretend to be live streaming them to your Insta.

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 to worry, make them cross a busy carpark or road often enough and eventually they'll get squished because they couldn't hear a fucking car coming and they'll be in need of your wheelchair space.

Bloody ridiculous comment.

That was NOT support in any shape or form.
Support is stopping anyone who plays the BB police. And support disabled people who are been harassed.

Instead you’re trying to paint harassing people fir getting on with their life as something good. As something genuine disabled people want.
Well LISTEN to disabled people.
They DO NOT WANT A BB POLICE.
They dint want to have to explain themselves all the time.
They dint want to be made like fraudster or scroungers all the time.
And it is NOT an occasional or rare mistake. It happens regularly. And it’s exhausting and demeaning.

So if you REALLY want to support disabled peoole, listen to them.
And at the very least, if you want to play the Police, start with looking at whether there is a BB or not. And if there is, just shut up.

Also BB spaces are not just for wheelchair users.
Actually having a space close to the entrance is even more necessary if you’re not a wheelchair user.

"I have a badge because of complications around my ileostomy. Would you like to see my bag of shit, or shall I just hold up a mirror?"

(FAOD: I, samarrange, do not have an ileostomy, but a family member does and occasionally gets dirty looks when using disabled facilities of various kinds.)

Whilst it's unusual, a blue badge can be granted on occasion for severe mental health difficulties, which may have been the reason the man you mention had one. It's not really up to anyone else to judge who should or shouldn't have one, except the relevant department at the council.

My husband has very little use of one leg and one arm/hand due to a birth injury. As well as scoliosis.

it causes his hips and 'good' leg to ache a lot, and walking can be painful. He also needs wider spaces to be able to swing his leg out. The amount of people who have rushed out to have a go because he's a 6ft tattooed 'youngish' (early 40s) bloke and physically looks very fit and strong. He used to feel like he had to justify it, but now he just walks away. I get so angry on his behalf - he was bullied his whole life st school by other kids because of his disability and now grown adults feel they can do the same and question his medical history to try and take away the one thing that makes his life a little easier.

I get where you are coming from, but she still shouldn't be made to share her medical information and the personal changes to her body with any member of staff (usually a daft overkeen teenager with illusions of power) when she goes out in public, be it verbally or on a card.

Maybe it depends on where you live, I've never been challenged, I've had a couple of looks bit that's it and I've had a blue badge for a few years now.
I'm a 29 year old mum of four with invisible disabilities.

I hope you enjoy using your badge 🙂 Sucks you are ill enough to need one, but I'm grateful for BB it makes things so much more accessible, I hope it does for you too.

Honestly I just get back in my car, cry and then usually end up going home without doing what I need to do

There are still nowhere near enough spaces at hospital. So glad that at one there is a dedicated oncology drop off which is a godsend. And more parking generally.

Who builds a massive hospital and designs a car park with 30 blue badge spaces? At the other hospital you can't get in BB car park and the main entrance drop off is bedlam as there are nowhere near enough general parking spaces.

Meanwhile there are two completely empty bus lanes. And no bus from anywhere near where we live anyway.

OK, sure🙄.

I'd say it's an equal need because whilst a wheelchair may make the actual movement from car park to destination physically easier than walking for some people who have adapted to the physical requirements to self propel, it does mean the wheelchair user is significantly shorter and therefore less visible to drivers, particularly when having to transfer from vehicle to chair and move between cars (assuming there's enough space to actually do so). That and it's perfectly possible to have both a physical disability and a sensory disability.

I think most people with full eyesight have seen drivers come into Tesco's car park faster than they should and then swing into a parking space or round the corners without really looking. They're an equal danger to everybody, really.

Interesting! I fully expect to be challenged here. There are a lot of entitled busybodies here. I used to live next door to some of them.

It's actually fairly easy to 'read' a blue badge and find out if the person is male or female and their month/year date of birth. The long number on the front of my badge reads something like this

475XKBF112026 (obviously a fictitious example!!)

From that you could tell that I'm a female born in Nov 2026. The only caveat to this is that it's perfectly OK to use a badge if you are picking someone up- something DH does at my local hospital because trying to find a bb space is like finding rocking horse shit- they removed the bb parking and have stuck a building there instead.

My comeback for members of the public is 'I am under no obligation to disclose my private medical information to members of the public. If you have a problem then I suggest you call the Police' when challenged. On one occasion someone did call the Police. For other reasons I keep a copy of my PIP award on my phone which shows that I have enough mobility points for an automatic bb (varies by local authority but in mine it's 12 points). The self appointed bb arsehole got a very stern talking to.

What Liondoesntsleepatnight said. My elderly mum has a life limiting illness that means she can barely walk the length of herself, and we'd all been asking her for years to apply for a blue badge, but she refused, because in her mind she isn't disabled, she's "just" ill. But she had a fall recently, because she walked to a further away car park, because she wouldnt use the disabled space, and gave in on the blue badge as a result. I filled in the application for her - I'm educated to postgrad level, have numerous professional qualifications, but it took me hours to complete it, these badges are really, really difficult to prove you qualify for them. If someone's questioning what disability the person has, they should sit down with the application criteria!!

The only people who need to be reading anyone's BB, are traffic wardens, and those manning car parks, or the Police, imo. Not members of the public who wish to scrutinise them.

Oh plenty can be done. You wait, take their reg, and have it read out all over Sainsbury's, Tescos whatever. Trust me, it works.

The last time someone challenged me I looked them up and down before saying ‘Can I please see your identification from XX council’

When they asked why I calmly explained that the only people who had the right to see it were licensed officials and so I would be leaving. They shouted after me as I left and it took all my willpower not to shout back but they were the one who looked like the idiot, not me 🤷‍♀️

Why answer them at all? The most annoying thing for this sort of person is to be ignored, passive aggression is always the best, let them rant and rave, it gets them into such a state!