to feel irritated that neighbours have 'designated disabled space'...

[Southwestwhippet]

in a crowded on-street parking zone when they do not have disabled badges displayed in any of their cars nor do they appear to have any disabilities?

Yes I know, I am probably BU and many people have hidden disabilites but I was under the impression to get a designated disabled space outside your house you had to be able to argue to the council that you couldn't walk any further than from your car to your front door unaided... and have disabled badges.

There is no other designated parking, cul-de-sac is a general free for all and parking is at a premium. I was bad and parked in their space on one occassion, however they were round here within 20minutes asking me to 'move out of their disabled space'. Fair enough I suppose but it seems a little unfair when they appear not to have any trouble walking.

Obviously I haven't (and won't) park in their space again as don't want to upset my neighbours but AIBU in feeling a teeny tiny bit frustrated at the apparent unfairness of it?

But there are blue badge holders who abuse the system.

One mum I know has one for her eldest dc who is unable to walk.
Her dc attends school Mon-Fri, but this mum will say to friends, "don't bother driving/getting the bus, I'll pick you up and use dc's blue badge to get free parking"

Now, she needs this badge when her dc is with her but the rest of the time, she is abusing the system.

Have got a friend who's mum has terminal cancer and struggles to leave her house most days. She hasn't been able to get one so far for her mum, so her mum is basically stuck in her house.

The system still isn't fair and remains open to abuse unfortunately.

i do understand as i had 4 children and the same situation, just one was disabled

i just think its a tad insensitive to complain about parking 200 yards away on a thread about disabled bays

Yes, but this thread is not about you, it is about someone who has a neighbour with no disabled badge blocking up the street with a disabled bay.

Flappy: the blue badges are supposed to have the holder's photograph on. If the child is not in the car, the badge shouldn't be used. It's pretty easy to see when they drive off without the person in the photo.

Photos are on reverse of the card so not on display, altho if asked by someone they would obviously get caught

was going to reply that you don't have to display the photograph but magicOC beat me to it.

also, if you say to someone who questions you, that you are on your way to collect your dc etc from outside a certain shop/restaurant because they can't make it back to the car, who is going to question that?

Good point Flappy

Hopefully there would be some jobsworth or parking attendant having a bad day who would check lol

Probably not tho.

I have been feeling bad that I may have upset Lou33.

I've come back to say I just jumped on here to give my practical experience of a sort of similar situation.

And I can't pretend some small part of me wasn't happy to got back at that crazy old lady for constantly staring out of her bedroom window into ours, taking pics of us and generally making us feel like we were living in a goldfish bowl.

I only thought about it in terms of removing her totally unjustified and not-needed space.

I didn't think about the potential for other disabled drivers to use it because I actually thought it was only open to her to park in it as it is right outside her house.

I don't have a photo on mine or dd's badge. Wasn't going to spend £5 each to get photos done!

Syc, FWIW, I think what you're saying is entirely valid. It's downright dangerous to try to get four small children 200 yards down a busy street on your own, and then decide which ones you leave in the car or house so you can go and get the bags etc. you have in the car. Of course that is an important consideration.

I don't think you were being flippant, I think Lou was being oversensitive.

Syc - I don't think you were being at all flippant, and you have nothing to apologise for.

The most extraordinary thing about this thread is the knowledge that people break into cars to thieve disabled badges. Good grief.

i wasnt saying it was about me, i was saying from the pov that 200 yds to any disabled badge user is something many would love to be able to do

i was comparing my situation the kids were mentioned as a response to sycamore saying it was hard with kids

i never said she was being flippant, and i think it is not unreasonable for me to reply with how i feel either

i cant see how i was rude in anyway

i also dont think its fair to hear how 200 yds is hard to cope with, though like i said i do understand how it can be frustrating

point out where i said it was about me?

the problem with people abusing the badge system is a lot to do with the fact the picture has to be face down, so you cant compare it with the person using the car

i wasnt upset, i dont think i was being oversensitive, i was pointing out that mentioning how hard it is to get kids shopping etc out and home for 200 yds is frustrating, and i have been there as well, and we manage, but many blue badge holders cant, i fail to see why that is upsetting

sycamore you didnt offend me i was just debating a point

It is hard to cope with and, more importantly, not safe to cope with and if there is anyway it can be avoided with young children, then it should be - that's why there are P&C spaces as well as disabled spaces at public places.

It's not about it being a bit awkard, IMO, it's about safety.

like i said i know this, i have had to do it myself

but compared to people who cant walk 200 yards, it takes second place imo, and thats having seen it from both sides

this is a debate about disabled bays, i may be in the minority with my opinion, but i think there should be more not less

Where I used to live, one of our neighbours had a disabled space outside her house that she ceased to be able to use as her disability became more severe. In that case, her space was taken over by another neighbour who also had a disabled badge - something which seemed eminently sensible to me.

But if the person who made the initial application for the space and had it allocated no longer needs the space, and there is no-one else in the immediate vicinity who needs it, then it seems sensible to me that the space be removed - especially if you live somewhere where parking is at a premium. It would be great if each street could have a dedicated disabled space in case it is needed by a visitor to the street, but if I understand correctly, this is not the aim of the current disabled space scheme.

This is a problem that is only going to get bigger, because many of our towns were not designed with mass car ownership in mind, so streets are too narrow to allow parking both sides, many houses don't have off-street parking, and in addition to this, many families have more than one car, so too many people are fighting for too few parking spaces.

I am ablebodied (apart from the odd aches and pains of being overweight and 45 years old) and I plan my trips around whether or not I will be able to park near my destination. I will set off early for appointments so that I know I'll have enough time to find somewhere to park and to walk to my appointment if I don't get parked nearby. I appreciate that it must be immeasureably harder for someone with a disability - but surely that should mean that any attempt to ensure that disabled spaces and blue badges aren't abused is a good thing?

Lou, I understand completely what you are saying and agree that there should be more designated disabled parking spaces.

Knowing Syc's road as I do, it is a residential road without any shops nearby. It would be highly unlikely for the disabled bay to be of use to someone. The disabled person would probably have to be visiting one of about four houses in her street to make it any use to them. Otherwise that person would probably choose to park within the ordinary residential bay nearer to where they are visiting (I know dh and db would anyway).

So I don't really see the point in keeping an unused disabled bay in place in that situation.

If it was near some sort of amenity though, I'd say it should be kept.

Lots of people on here say they hate to be challenged when parking in a designated Blue Badge space but, I think, it's actually quite good that people are willing to question. It might put off some people from abusing the spaces.

I did feel quite good though when visiting Kew Gardens a few years ago. We parked in a disabled space (relatively young family with 2 young dcs) and an older chap stood in front of the car looking daggers at us with his arms folded. I let him stand there a while and got the dcs and buggy out. Then as dh struggled to get out the car, wacked the blue badge onto the dash board. Old chappie couldn't walk off fast enough .

So although it was annoying. I think good on him for challenging us

i live in a small village with narrow roads, and 95% of the time the majority of street parking is outside my drive and house for some reason

like i said luckily i have a tiny drive to park in, though it generally involves a few manoeuvres because of the way people park in the street

had i not got a drive though i would ask for a designated bay , and there are no shops or any amenities close by either

parking is just generally shit i think, the majority of people in my village have their own drives, but the rods are still clogged with cars parked on street, on roads that would at times leave an ambulance struggling to get through

i am not attacking sycamore personally, i think i have said more than once i can understand her pov, i just disagree with the removal of disabled bays

like i said initially i think there should be more

disabled people dont only go to cities

wrt challenging blue badges i generally dont mind it

the only time i do is when people are just downright rude about it

i remember one time an elderly lady standing right by my car as i pulled into a space and put my badge in the window and got out

she saw me open the boot and start getting a wheelchair out but she still said v loudly to her companion that she was waiting to see who out of my group was disabled enough to use the space

that kind of thing i take issue with (and did) but i think its fair enough to have a nose and see if a badge is being used ( i do )

I think in your shoes Lou33 I would probably be posting in exactly the same way as you have on this thread.

I also do, sort of, feel sure that in my shoes, you'd have done the same regarding the disused bay.

Anyway, point debated and it has at least opened my eyes to the fact that all disabled spaces are open to any blue badge holder, which hadn't occurred to be before about residential spots.

And thanks Desperate...if I had known you better back then I'd have kept it just for your DH

I appreciate that disabled people don't only go to cities, lou - I didn't talk about villages/small towns because I don't have the experience to do so.

I'm still not sure why it is logical to keep a disabled bay in a residential street when the original person no longer needs it, because someone else might need it at sometime, when there is huge pressure on parking. After all - who's to say that the disabled bay will be in the right place - as someone else has said, a disabled bay is only going to be near a limited number of houses, so isn't going to be much use if the person can't walk far and is visiting a house at the other end of the street.

Disabled bays near amenities are different, of course.

We got comments from a group of people waiting in a very long queue going through imigration at Miami airport a few years ago.

Dh was being pushed in a wheelchair, so we got to go through the aircrew lane.

The comments were generally light hearted, 'give us a lift', 'lucky you' type thing. Dh's response was he'd much rather not be disabled and have to stand in a line for an hour or more than be sitting in the wheelchair being whisked through.

I know the frustrations of people blocking your driveway, lou. I told some community police officers off the other day for doing it

you do not legally have to display a badge in a bay which does not have a post and sign next to it. Perhaps they are scared of the badge being stolen. I had ds1's badge stolen once. Apparently they sell for £500+. I als had to pay the excess on my insurance for the smashed window

You're pretty much a sitting target for them display your badge in a bay.

On holiday in France this year with DH and 4DCs we were challenged every single time we parked in a disabled spot. As soon as I waved my blue badge they just smiled and walked away. But I thought it was quite nice really that the French, as a society, seem to be so protective of disabled people's parking priviliges.
I am occasionally challenged here but if its nicely done it really doesn't bother me. Me and DH once went away to a swanky hotel for the weekend. When we parked outside in the disabled spot the doorman rushed outside and tore a strip off DH. Poor bloke was genuinely mortified when I hobbled out of the car; apologised profusely and couldn't do enough for us the rest of the weekend. To be honest I thought, good on him; he was protecting the rights of people like me and was in no way intimidated by DH's posh company car.

i think it is about how people challenge rather than the fact they do

And yet the OP has been criticised on this thread for simply wondering if her neighbours are entitled to their disabled parking space.

the op did post this in aibu

aibu always causes debate, it's what aibu is for