AIBU to think Blue Badge holders can use parent and child spaces?

[winterwonder1]

This article says that Blue Badge holders can't park in P&C spaces but I thought they could and that they were a legal requirement whereas P&C was a courtesy? Have I been wrong all these years? Can Blue Badge holders park in parent and child spaces? | Oxford Mail

If you are going to park in a blue badge bay, the person named on the badge needs to leave the vehicle or be picked up (such as from a medical appointment at hospital).

If the person isn’t going to leave the vehicle, the vehicle needs to be parked elsewhere. My DM’s late cousin got fed up with people parking in the blue badge with the disabled person sitting in the car whilst an able person (usually an adult child) gets out and runs to the chemist, bank etc

As it’s one of the rules. You could have the blue badge revoked if found guilty

The shop had their rules and stuck to them so the disabled person got a fine. She should have used the correct space.

BB spaces on private land don’t carry the same legal weight I agree, but under the Equality Act 2010 private service providers have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, which includes providing and maintaining a certain number of disabled bays. While the official Blue Badge rules don't strictly apply, car parks enforce them to meet that legal requirement.

In most cases I’ve gone straight to the retailer, or where they don’t own the car park, the landowner - it’s pointless approaching the parking company, who will only tell you that you’ve breached their terms and have to pay the fine.

Denying access to goods and services because of disability is an offence under the Equality Act 2010, so if the lack of available disabled bays means that you are unable to access these services without breaching the terms and conditions, you can argue that the retailer/landowner failed to make reasonable adjustments. It’s my experience that if you explain this, most will cancel the ticket to avoid potential discrimination claims.

If the disabled person can demonstrate that there were not enough spaces, or that they were not accessible enough to allow them to access goods and services, as per the the provision made by the Equality Act 2010, there is a potential claim for disability discrimination. Retailers and landowners know this but they rely on most people not knowing their rights.

I frequently use P&C spaces with a blue badge. My blue badge holder is well under the age of 12 and often the badge allows me to park for free so pop it in the windscreen.

Parent and child spaces are for babies & young children with their adult.
Not for disabled blue badge holders who can use the disabled bays or wait for one to become available.

It can also result in a fine of up to £1000 for abuse of the badge. The information provided by local authorities when issuing the badges has been updated to make it clearer that you can’t just rock up to a disabled space if you’re not leaving the car, or being collected/dropped off. I think the confusion arises because it’s perfectly legal for a designated driver to use a disabled persons’ motability car to run errands for them, but they cannot use the blue badge unless the disabled person is with them and leaving the vehicle.

Nope. Unless it’s on private land, it’s perfectly acceptable for someone with a blue badge to use a P&C space if there are no BB spaces left, or they are inaccessible to the person with the badge. BB spaces are legally enforceable, P&C spaces are not, they are a concession only. Might be a good time to mention the number of parents I’ve seen parking in a P&C space, leaving the child/children in the car.

Wait how long for?

That is your opinion, and you are welcome to it, but I am not going to wait around for a BB space to open up, if there are P&C spaces available.

Or the shop should not be discriminatory.

P&C spaces are purely a courtesy and anyone can use them if they choose. Other than being glared at, there is no comeback on it

Or just get shopping delivered

I have a blue badge but if there aren't any spaces then I certainly will park in the parent and child space. I have never received a fine but would kick up a huge fuss if I did. Disabled people should have priority. I don't understand why parent and child spaces are near the shop anyway. And unless you have a pram or pushchair why do you need extra space?

I find it concerning that many people seem to think that becoming a parent is some sort of disability that trumps the legal, hard fought for, rights of disabled people.

Shame on you. It’s a courtesy to provide a convenience because people can’t seem to cope with parking and getting their child out. It’s in no way comparable to a condition that warrants a blue badge

I like to do a mixture of both shopping in store, and using a delivery service when necessary.

Many private car parks issue fines for misuse of designated spaces. My local Tesco issue fines for people parking in a P&C space without children.

I think it depends where you live. Always shit loads empty where I am, but it's not especially busy here.

Anyway, I agree with someone's post earlier, anyone fining a disabled person for using a parent and child space would be a complete piece of shit. I don't know what the law says but morally of course they should be able to use them if no other choice.

And that’s the difference between P&C spaces in private and non private car parks. On street and public car parks are different - P&C spaces are not enforceable in law.

So disabled people shouldn’t go shopping ?

It’s a courtesy to provide a convenience because people can’t seem to cope with parking and getting their child out.

There’s always someone who needs to turn nasty for no reason.

The same a parent and child would do if there were no parent and child spaces.

They’ve been a thing for 30 years, if not longer.

Sure but the vast majority of parking provision in the UK is privately owned, if you chose to park in them you therefore agree to their terms and that can often include fines for misusing the spaces, including staying past a time period or using designated spaces incorrectly. It’s simply not true to say anyone who wants to can park in a P&C space “with no comeback on it”.

Which in my experience is often to park in a disabled space and limp into the shop. Funny how the limp has disappeared by the time they come out. I once witnessed a conversation between a pregnant woman with what looked like a four or five year old child in tow, and a car park attendant. She had parked in a disabled bay and was arguing the toss that she was perfectly entitled to park there because ‘I’m pregnant’. The more the attendant pointed out that pregnant is not disabled, the angrier she got and the louder she shouted. She ripped up the ticket in front of him and went into the shop, so he calmly wrote another and put it under her windscreen wiper !!