Apparently there are always billions of disabled parking spaces and it's a disgrace

[daisy5678]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252452/Revealed-Why-disabled-bays-stay-empty.html

2 empty parking spaces in the photo does not a good article basis make!

i wish amount of times we struggled to find one and then mouthfull we get because of course a child can not be disabled

mind thats all a moot point as car was stolen and right now we have no blue badge till replaced

Some of the car parks near us have more disabled spaces than normal spaces but places like hospitals, clinics etc (places where you need them) seem to only have a couple. Outside dd2's nursery (which is also a childrens center for SALT, Physio etc) there are only 4 spaces which anyone seems to park in (with or without a badge).

Same. Sainsburys only has about 20 and they are nearly always all full (and not all of people with badges, though it has improved since they introduced an attendant and £50 fines. BTW, love the slogan that goes with that - something like 'if you're entitled to park here, that's fine. If not, that's a £50 fine' )

The hospital is awful. It has about 10 spaces, which are always all full. Not easy to come out of a CAMHS/ paed appointment alone with a screaming, biting, headbutting child and try to get them across a huge car park (or 3, depending on how far away we've had to park).

Depends where you live. Our Sainsburys where I have moved from has 3 rows of disabled spaces and they are never full- even at Xmas when the car park is heaving. But I've just moved to Bath and the Sainsburys here seems to have the right amount/ not enough because generally only one or two spaces are free. Obviously there is a higher % of blue badges in this area (which makes sense looking at the general demographics).

Perhaps rather than having a standard formula for supplying disabled bays that applies everywhere it would make more sense to calculate the proportion needed on a local basis? That way non- blue badge drivers wouldn't see banks and banks of empty spaces when they can't park, but people needing them would find a space available.

Or is that too difficult for Planners to work out?

What a vile article. I have no idea why some people with kids have this over-inflated sense of entitlement about 'special' car park spaces.

I never understand what 'registered' as disabled means either.

It's not easy to get a blue badge space here at all, where do they dig these stories from? Must be a quiet news day or some poor journalist has had to walk across a car park with their perfectly able bodied child bless.

phoenix, I've lost count of the number of times we've been asked by an older disabled person if we should be parking in a bay, as you said, children can't be disabled.

I saw that
how odd the ones at our local supermarkets are always full.
can't get over the lazy P&T netmuns

Elvislives wrote exactly what i think. It varies from place to place, the supermarket where i work seems to have about the right amount of disabled parking places , i've never seen them bursting nor really empty. But another supermarket accross town has banks and banks empty each and every time we go there.

I can also undertsand why some parents moan about not enough parent/toddler parking. But only on the practical side of a bigger space to open your car door and get the baby/toddler out, the walking further away from the shop should'nt be a bother.
I remember moaning all the time when i was pregnant and went shopping with DS who was 2 at the time. Never enough parent/child parking! Trying to squeeze my huge bump between cars doors and get DS out of his baby seat was a real struggle!!

How strange, I put a comment on there and I've just been back to see if it was accepted and it's now saying no comments have been submitted! I must have imagined reading the 200-odd that were on there earlier .

Most of them missed the point as usual. Apparently it would be a good idea if the disabled bays were furthest away from the store because it's easy to wheel yourself there in your wheelchair (!), and many disabled people support this view according to the poster! I can't believe that. Surely even wheelchair users understand about hidden disabilities etc?

bloody daily mail

Bigcar is bit easier now i do grin as they come towards us spouting of that P&t spaces are over there and they then see me llifting ds wheelchair out lot easier than when ds was in major \mac

Riven

was back in January were staying at my parents very long story there

But woke up at 4am came downstairs found been burgled car, carseats blue badge ds wheelchair was in car to , lucily also got phonecall Monday after say his brand new one was ready but thats what sickend me most, laptops tvs etc moneyhad in 2 suitcases we had turned up at folks with

was on top of a crappy few months where we lost everything we owned other than what wehad in 2 suitcases we had turned up at folks with not lot for me and 4 dc

.Am hopefully signing 10 year lease on bungalow on Weds so things are looking up

.

What about us disabled people with a child?

Oh, and isn't is only about 12% of disabled (blue badge holders) people are in a wheelchair?
I am disabled but not a wheelchair user. If I had to park any further from the shops I'd be crawling out on my hands and knees to get back to the car.

in the article it was a lazy netmum who was saying p&T spaces should be further awya......
come on having a tot is a disability you know

miggsie yeah i admir for us it is easier now ds has a wheelchair before hand we was one of the hidden disblities

. now it may have been genuinely useful to campaign for better "family" toilets in shopping centres/supermarkets, in addition to disabled toilets, so disabled loos don't have to double as baby changes.

I don't see the need for Parent spaces at all - I never needed them for either DS - not in the real sense of need. I would make them all for disabled and if parents feel having a baby is a disability then they can argue their case to get a disabled badge.

Typical daily mail. ur local supermarkets never have empty disabled spaces. P&T spaces are handy but I did prefer to park further away when I had babies as it was quieter and so safer. Ds has one of those invisable disabilities too but we don't have a blue badge.

okay i seem to be in the minority here but i see where they are coming from. my local m and s has loads of disabled spaces which have loads of empty spaces all the time. there are hardly any p and t ones and never any spaces there.

i need the extra space to get a 1yr old out one side and a 2 yr old out the other and am pg so struggle with a bump too. just cannot get both doors open and kids out in a normal space.

mummyannabella - do the words red rag and bull mean anything to you. Parent and child spaces are are a really emmotive subject on mumsnet, despite the name of the site. Especially when mentioned in the same sentence as disabled spaces. (I like, many others, learned the hard way just as I fear you may be about to) my suggestion would be to get a hard hat and watch out for incoming and most importantly - dont take it personally.

I will keep my fingers crossed no one notices your comment about p&t spaces.

There was a feature on this issue on Radio 5 this morning (5 Live Breakfast). It should be on podcast at some stage.

MumyAnnabella, why does a non-disabled 1yo and a 2yo need more space to get out of a car than a non-disabled adult would? Presumably you are not lifting them out in baby seats at that age?

And why do they have to come out at opposite sides- can't the 2yo crawl across and come out at the same side as the 1yo?

I've had a healthy baby and a toddler, and I now have a disabled teen. You simply can't compare the two.