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?

Good point lou - sorry for overlooking that.

i think its all been quite civilised on here actually

Surely, if the disabled bay is no longer required by the resident of that house, and there is no other disabled person on that street who could use it, it should be removed? The alternative is nobody ever using that space, or people who are not disabled using that space, thereby making it irrelevant to any visiting people who could use it, as it would be likely to be occupied by a non-disabled person, who may be using it as a personal parking space since most people respect the disabled bay markings.

Really don't see the point in a permanently empty space on a residential street that has limited parking.

Good heavens. Before reading this thread, I would have assumed that a car without a blue badge, didn't have the right to be parked in a disabled space. Didn't realise they were such a target for thieves
It MUST be possible to design a scheme where the badge is worthless if stolen - would issuing a book of badges that would be valid only for say a week at a time be better?

i agree house, there has to be a better way of making it work

not sure how though

i dont think weekly books would help though, the paperwork alone needed to get them sent out and on time and enough to last for more than a few weeks to save constant reapplications, would be a nightmare

well, I am thinking along the lines of how would banks do it, if they had responsibility for this? (have switched back to my old name)

my bank gives me a randomly generated list of numbers, each of which I use for just 1 transaction. That's on top of my pw of course. So if someone breaks into my a/c, they have to nick the list of numbers as well, because the last number they would have harvested would be worthless.
I was thinking along this principle, but obv would have to be different for something that was physically displayed in a car.

is this a different local council issue, i'm sure that the disabled bays aren't enforceable here, it's just the humane thing not to park in them.

i dont know , the link i posted says on street disabled bay parking is enforceable

its all a bit confusing

i was certainly led to believe that i had to display a blue badge for parking on street even in a bay , or else get a fine, as it is not a private car park

Houseproblem, it didn't use to be a problem when the car was issued with the blue badge, but then the disabled person could not use the card in any other vehicule. Now the person has the blue badge, so it can be stolen for use in any vehicule.

It takes multiple hoop-jumping just to get a badge (I know, my dd2 has one) so any other lengthier type would make us curl up and die - or just never leave the house.

Perhaps the blue badge could be in two parts, like the driving licence is - the actual blue badge that goes into the car, and a paper blue badge license that the blue badge holder has to keep with them so they can show it if asked.

And though I do see the risk of theft if a blue badge is left in a car parked on a residential street, surely there is just as great a risk of it being stolen if the car is parked in a public car park or elsewhere - places where the blue badge does have to be displayed? In fact, the risk could be greater in a public car park, because the presence of disabled spaces means the thief has a far higher chance of finding a disabled person's car with their badge in it, than if they walk down the average residential street.

Or perhaps the blue badge could be registered to the actual car, as it used to be, and people could be issued with books of single-use, tear-out blue badges that they could use if someone else was giving them a lift. Then neither the 'proper' blue badge or the single use one would be worth stealing, would they?