Disabled parking - was I an utter cow?

[BadHair]

Opinions please - be honest, I can take it.

My work base is in a university library. There is one disabled space right outside the front door. There are plenty of standard spaces within approx. 20 paces of front door.

On Saturday, when more or less the entire car park was empty, a car pulled up and parked in the one disabled space. Out got a pregnant woman, probably about 7 months, not huge but obviously showing. Standard policy is to discourage people from using this space unless they have a blue badge, due to recent complaints from disabled drivers. So, I nipped outside and politely told her that this was a disabled space, and did she have a valid blue badge.

To which she pointed at her bump and replied "HELLO, I'M PREGNANT". "Yes, but you're not actualy disabled, are you? This space is for people with mobility problems" was my reply. She snorted at me and charged inside (quite nimbly, it has to be said) to deposit her books and spend a good hour on a computer, all the while hogging the disabled space.

So, was I a cow, or was she just a lazy git? Need to know as I have to decide whether to report her if she does it again.

Lazy git!!

She's a lazy git. You are not a cow. Anyone who says "Hello, I'm pregnant" under those circumstances deserves a slap round the face with a wet kipper.

tough. on the one hand, it is for those with blue badges, so technically she doesnt qualify, plus she was obnoxious, so she looses points for that. on the other hand, those bumps weigh a friging ton and do make you snappy and your feet are swollen and you can be a bit selfish....

but, on balance, i have to say i'd just key her car for being a bitch.

You were right.
People are fond of saying pregnancy is not an illness, so can't have it both ways.
We have just had a friend with MS staying with us, and even a few extra yards to walk make all the difference to him of being able to do something or not. A real pain if the disabled space is hogged by an able person.

Report her!!!!
I hate it when people park in disabled spaces when they don't have a right to. ALso hate it when people park in carer and child spaces. DH once had a row with a woman who nipped in to the last available child space ahead of him - he asked if she would mind moving as he needed the space to get GS and all his stuff out of the car. She started screaming at him about it being parent and child space and she had her daughter with her, pointing to this 'child' of about 5' 8"aged about 17.
SO go on report her!!!!!!!!

Tough one. You were right since she seemed nibble enough.

In both my PGs i was on crutches at the end so had no compunction about using the space closest to wherever even though i had no blue badge. I felt the crutches were obvious enough that i had a problem and you dont get blue badges for "temporary" conditions.

or even "nimble" enough....

IMO a lazy git!!!!
Pregnancy is a condition not a disability.

and as she had not trouble walking then I would report her!

Oh, gosh, I thought I was going to get hung, drawn and quartered. Have been feeling bad about it all week, but not any more.
Joash - I had the same thing in Asda car park. Had a very undignified slanging match with a woman whose "child" was a hulking great spotty teenager.

oops not suppose to be two posts

You were right.

I've been pregnant 3 times. I have a disabled child who has a blue badge. 7 months pregnant is a piece of piss compared to dealing with ds1. In some places a lack of disabled space would mean we couldn't park at all. Report her and suggest she stops being such a princess.

Pregnancy is not a disability FFS. I would have slapped her for being obnoxious.
Sorry disabled bays are a pet peeve of mine, due to having 2 disabled kids (with badges) and when I can't get parked because some obnoxious got has taken the last disabled bay without a badge it gets my goat...

yep, report her. have a disabled child of 15, can't walk unaided. if i'm out with him and have his wheelchair i don't use disabled parking bays even though we have a valid disk. will only park in them if parking a distance away will cause him problems. have 4 other children, being pregnant is a gift not an hindrence.

I was in a wheelchair for 6 months of my first pregnancy in ABJECT AGONY (as I never tire of telling everyone ) and would definitely have used the disabled space had I had a car, blue badge or none.

The woman you describe was, however, a perfectly able-bodied bone idle obnoxious cow. Definitely report her ass next time

got=git..

SS - two of us have posted already without any onslaught - i think you'll be ok SPD is a very real condition.

if a pregnant woman has a condition that stops her walking, like PSD (is that right??) then they should be able to use a disabled bay but not just because they are pregnant like this woman thinks she can.

LOL SS!

Funnily enough - when i was pg and had SPD - so not only the size of a whale but a clumsy oaf on crutches it was the most invisible i have ever been.

Well I think its a bit different if you're on crutches or in a wheelchair (!), but in the same vein I think its OK for the elderly to use Parent and baby spaces if they have limited mobility- they need it more than average mummy.

This woman though sounds fleet of foot and as if she is a pregnancy princess ( can't bear them)

i know, but we are just digressing and bemoaning our hard lives lockets