Disabled parking, is it fair?

Not all disabilities are visible. It's none of your business as to why someone is parked where they are and they don't owe you an explanation of their disability to appease your curiosity or discomfort.

I have one or two disabilities, including a horrible bowel condition. I look fine! I’ve been given looks, asked what my disability is and actually shouted at for using disabled. TBH it’s no one else’s business and no one should ever ask a person to explain their disability.

I would not have cared less if an 80 year old used a disabled space and I’ve often jumped into Mother and Child Bas, if there are multiple bays empt and I’m only going to be a few minutes

I think anyone who wants to park in a disabled space should display a blue badge. I get annoyed when I take a disabled child out and can't park in a disabled space with his blue badge because others have taken all the disabled spaces and only one or two are displaying blue badges. If I can't find a space close enough for me to get him in it means we have to turn around and go home without him being able to attend. Some people are incredibly selfish and if I saw a person parking in a disabled space jumping out the car and going in without displaying a blue badge I'd ask them if they want the disability that goes along with the blue badge.

I have had a parking permit since my 40s as I have been disabled since infancy. However, my disability isn’t always immediately obvious and I sometimes get ‘the look’. I am, and have been for most of my 72 years, in pain but have always worked , even past retirement and contributed. No one can appreciate another person’s story until they’ve lived it.

I have blue badge and I had to provide medical evidence and undergo an assessment. I have arthritis in both hips, knees shoulder toes and fingers walking is painful and difficult. I don’t look ill or disabled, I’d be lost without my badge

I used to argue with my late mummy - that she wasn’t disabled (as her brother was - he had polio - callipers etc) my mummy was just ‘old’!
Big difference - I was asked by a friend why I didn’t have a disabled badge too! I replied I’m old that’s tough enough

You need to be less judgemental .

When I first applied to my LA many years ago, the criteria included being able to walk less than 200yrds and your condition had to be progressive. The form was signed by my GP.

My last two badge renewals have been issued without question, because I had a mountain of paper work from the same LA, saying I was no longer able to work, due to incapacity.
There was no way they could disagree their own doctors.

Wales might be doing something correctly

Again, that may be a different area of Wales, Gwyllt. The Blue Badge scheme is administered by the Councils, ours is very difficult indeed.

I’m a bit confused. My mother had a Blue Badge for several years before she died. She could dress herself and cook a simple meal, but she was on a mountain of medication due to her heart condition and she couldn’t walk far. For a few years she used a stick, then a walker. There were things she couldn’t do for years such as her own housework, changing her bed, washing her hair, gardening and so on. Her last three years or so she could no longer drive so I drove her. But she could certainly dress herself, although had a little difficulty with her bra because of her arthritic shoulder. She ended up in a care home, but she had used her Blue Badge for years.

I am with some of the others - It is none of your business. She is a good age and shouldn’t have to give an account of herself to you. My god! You sound like our horrible next door neighbours. They report us for every little thing that we do and if we haven’t done it then they make it up! Let it go and enjoy your life and keep out of others.

Wales might be doing something correctly
When I applied for a blue badge it was during Covid and was unable to obtain a letter from anyone
A very nice occupational therapist phoned me up and had a long chat filling in a form during the process.
She also offered help and advice about all sorts of things on how to be as independent as possible and what aids the council could provide

there was no request for access to my medical records

Apparently she did not decide that was up to who ever but assured me that if it was up to her she would agree with me being awarded a blue badge
Which I was

harrigran

My sister told me that where she lives in Germany you automatically get disabled parking rights if you have had a cancer diagnosis.
I have, what is classed as, a hidden disability after having cancer and often struggle. I am at a loss as to how you convince the powers that be that the pain and discomfort you suffer is enough to warrant a blue badge.

It's not easy to get a Blue Badge here, even a letter from a Consultant fails to impress the clerk who makes the decisions at the County Council. She seems only able to tick or cross boxes. She wants permission to have access to all your medical records.

PIP? No? Then no badge
Can you dress yourself? Yes? Then no badge
Can you cook a meal? Yes? Then no badge
Etc

It's as if she has to pay for them personally!

An email to your local Councillor might get results, harrigran

DH used to work with a young man in his twenties who had MS. He drove a flashy yellow sporty car and dressed and looked Very smart,he said he was challenged almost daily for parking in a disabled space although he had a blue badge.

Also as my husband was under pension age when we applied , we had to prove that he was claiming PIP higher rate, before we could get one . Also when we had to renew it . It was a bit awkward for the first one as the claim had been submitted but it takes ages for it to be approved, I had to get my local councillor involved so I could have a temporary one issued. I have confronted people who park in them and don't display a badge, but you are at risk of getting abuse.

My sister told me that where she lives in Germany you automatically get disabled parking rights if you have had a cancer diagnosis.
I have, what is classed as, a hidden disability after having cancer and often struggle. I am at a loss as to how you convince the powers that be that the pain and discomfort you suffer is enough to warrant a blue badge.

My husband is in a wheelchair so we need the the disabled space because of the extra space at the side to fully open the door to enable him to transfer into his chair. I get really annoyed when we go to a local beach and people are parked in the blue badge spaces, with a badge on display, but sitting and reading in the car , with no intention of getting out. There are about 8 spaces for blue badge holders and about 50 ordinary spaces so there is plenty of availability. I always feel guilty if I have dropped him off somewhere and used a space , but I then leave, so I have to walk back to the car alone, I think are people judging me.

I’m registered disabled due to several muscular skeletal problems and can only walk a very short distance, and therefore often have to use a wheelchair, I have a blue disabled badge.
It really makes me angry when I see people parking in them that don’t have one, I think it’s lazy and utterly disgusting and thoughtless when able bodied people take these spaces.
I have had to forfeit going into a shop as so many people do this, I have seen fit workmen jump in and out of their vans and also fit elderly people who think because of their advancing years they have a right to use them with no badge.
Rant over

@Quizzer. While I do think it’s unacceptable for someone to park in a disabled space without the badge, I also think it’s unacceptable to enquire as to what the persons’ disability is. I’ve been challenged quite a few times before I’ve even got out of the car, because I don’t ‘look disabled’ behind the wheel, and my standard answer to people who want to know how my condition qualifies me (and it does happen more often than you’d think) is that that information is between me, my doctor and the badge issuing authority.

I don’t think a shoulder problem in itself is enough to qualify someone for a blue badge, but it could well be part of a wider problem, such as arthritis etc, and would therefore affect mobility.

1summer

When my husband was terminally ill with Leukaemia the hospital arranged for us to have a blue badge. He obviously couldn’t drive so I only used to take him to hospital or doctors. Once on the way back from hospital we called into a supermarket, he at the time was looking reasonably well. A lady came up to me and said I obviously wasn’t disabled so why was I using a badge and taking up a space for someone else. My husband started to explain until I butted in and said it has absolutely nothing to do with her and we didn’t have to explain.
We then got back to the car to find I had a fine on the windscreen - it said I had illegally displayed the badge upside down. The supermarket wouldn’t do anything as they say the parking is run by a different company so I had to pay up.

Next time challenge it Isummer. This happened to me, and when I challenged it the fine was withdrawn. The only requirement is for the badge to be displayed so that the information required by police/parking attendants is clearly visible and for a clock to be displayed where necessary. If the badge was upside down and not obscured by anything else, then it’s readable and utterly petty of someone to issue a ticket.

GrandmaKT

I was once coming out of hospital and had to go into the pharmacy in person to pick up a prescription. The only parking space available was a disabled space and so my husband pulled in there and waited. As I hobbled out of the pharmacy, on crutches with my leg ankle to thigh in plaster I was harangued by another motorist because I didn't have a blue badge! I think people need to be sensible about this.

But where do you draw the line. Blue badges are not issued for temporary conditions - if they were, none of us would be able to find a parking space !!

Primrose53

I just remembered another reason our Tesco staff will not go out and tell people off for wrongly parking in a Blue badge bay or a Parent and Child space.

They think it’s not their job and someone might turn on them. It’s the same at hospitals which have huge signs up saying No Smoking anywhere on this site. Even Security staff are wary of saying anything and medical staff say it’s not their job.

It actually isn’t their job. Most supermarket car parks are run by independent providers, and it’s they who have the responsibility to make sure rules are followed - it’s not down to the supermarket staff.

As for Blue Badges, they are very necessary for some people and not easy to get. My parents both had one although dad resisted until his last year or so. Mum had one for a few years, but she walked with a walker and her walking was poor. They both needed them.

Primrose53

Auntieflo

parent+child spaces are just a courtesy offer, they are not generally enforceable. ie anyone can park in them

I have a blue badge, and one time could find no parking bay, but, there were a few Mother & Child spaces. So I used one, only to be told, by a shop (Tesco's) assistant, that if the parking attendant saw this, I would be fined?

I did manage to move the car, but do not know how true this was.

That’s a lie. I was in a Tesco once and a woman was complaining that she had seen someone clearly not disabled using a disabled space. The Tesco Manager told her they can do nothing about it. He wouldn’t even send somebody out to check. They certainly have no authority to fine you either.

Yep. Parent and Child spaces are a courtesy concession and there is no legal obligation to provide them. They are not enforceable by law so there is no legal mechanism under which people can be fined for parking in them. I have a blue badge and am a wheelchair user, so need a wide space - on occasion when I can’t find a disabled space I have no alternative but to use a parent and child space.

Blue badge spaces are a legally enforceable concession, so parking in one without displaying a valid badge is an offence and carries a fine, but if the woman you saw in Tesco was complaining that the person she had seen didn’t look disabled, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they weren’t displaying a valid badge, as not all disabilities are visible. The Tesco manager probably refused because it’s not his job -most supermarket car parks are run by independent providers and it’s they who are responsible for these issues, not the supermarket staff.

I prefer parents with children to use the parent/child spaces for the simple reason that if they do so, they’re not opening their car doors wide and struggling to get baby and baby seat or pushchair out, and in the process, hitting my car and scratching it. So I’m fully in support of parent/child parking spaces, even though they didn’t exist when mine were babies.