Car Owners

Re. Driving assessment.

RoSPA recommend taking an assessment drive every 3 yrs.

I took mine last October, and got a very good result. (two points short of gold! - big head!!)

You can book via RoSPA who will arrange for your test at a local venue.
I had a serving Police driving instructor as my assessor.
Lasting about 1 1/4 hrs. I was taken over a course consisting of side roads ,main rds, country lanes and motorways.

You are not failed if not up to scratch, but are advised to possibly have revision lessons, or decide yourself to stop driving.

I found it most useful as my one year license was due to expire so included a copy of the pass letter with my renewal form!

Hope this info is useful to some one!

In Brighton and Barnstaple, you not only have to have the badge but also the tax exemption disc!

My husband had a blue badge for years. The worst problem was hospital parking. There never seems to be enough disabled parking at hospitals.
In Sunderland hospital, you can park in any bay and use your badge, and not have to pay.
At Durham University hospital you have to go through a barrier and pay on the way out if there are no disabled parking spaces left.
That hospital was built by Balfour Beatty, who run the parking and catering, etc.
We lived in York for ten years, and could park in the council car parks for nothing. We could also park on any space in the resident's parking areas for nothing.
I find now that I automatically go to the disabled parking, then realise he's not with me any more. That's hard.

The last 4 cars we had were motability cars, the last 3 Renault Scenics. It's not a 4x4 but it has a high driving position. It also has a boot without a lip, which means you can slide things in and out without much lifting which was useful for wheelchairs.

Ken only drove the first one. He gave up his driving licence when he was diagnosed with ataxia at 60. Last year he actually told me I was quite good at driving now. Sons probably would not agree.

After he died, I bought the car from Motability, low mileage, one careful owner. It will probably be my last. I still have his blue badge in the car. Can't bear to throw it out, but I have never used it.

My Husband had a blue badge for the last few months of his life - we would sometimes get odd looks because he didn't look disabled (he had cancer). If he wasn't with me I never used the badge. I often see young men (its usually men) roar into a disabled parking space, jump out and go and use the cash machine or nip into the shops which really annoys me.

However it does work both ways. The cemetery I visit has designated disabled spaces and last week there was a large 4 x 4 displaying a blue badge parked across three spaces (there is very limited parking).

My mother qualified for a blue badge but only used disabled spaces if it was really essential.
She did like to walk as much as possible so we tried to find a nearby space and we did put the blue badge on the dashboard to not pay the fee.
She did think that there were other people who were far more disabled than her and I think that was true.

Frank

A colleague of mine uses her blue badge to to park in a designed disabled driver parking space while she is at work all day. There are two disabled spaces out of approximately fifty and although there are plenty of ordinary space available at the time she arrives for work, she parks there because she 'is entitled to'. She doesn't seem to see anything wrong with taking up a space which could otherwise be used by several people throughout the day. Honestly, there's nowt so queer as folk!

One of my close male relatives (no name no pack drill) became quite imcompetent to drive in the last few years of his life.

Problem was he didn't recognise the fact. If he went over an island without noticing a car coming to his right and got pipped, he just didn't notice. Same with other scary driving manoeuvres.

When he was eventually responsible for an accident and it was suggested he surrender his licence he was devastated and regarded it as ageist that he was asked. He said young drivers had accidents and weren't asked to stop driving!

I wonder if men of a certain generation are more reluctant than women to stop driving. Maybe because having a 'motor' was built into their sense of masculinity.

I don't leave DH sitting in the car, jeni (he should be so lucky). He's quite capable of helping to carry the shopping even if he can't see where he's going.

for palin read plain - serves me right for not proof reading before posting

Oh guys you really should see what we get down here in the way of drivers misusing blue badges or awful parking or just palin awful driving.. I knew someone who'd driven all over the world and said this area was hard to beat. We get blue badge holders parking across zebra crossings !!! Yes we do. They park across corners and in bus stops, and of course across driveways. We get old men in mobility carts steaming along the road - they don't pay road tax you know -in front of cars and buses. We get cars going the wrong way along a dual carriageway and once the motorway itself. One of the hardest thing for an elderly person to have to do is to give up driving. When I worked at our local Medical Centre it caused a lot of anger and tears from patients who'd been told this. Yet there doesn't seem to be a driving test for these people to test their reactions. My grandfather drove well into his late 80's and it was a white knuckled drive I can tell you.

I live within 5 mins walk of station on main line to Paddington. Station carpark is free but not big enough so full from 7a.m. Drivers come from previous stn(where there are parking charges).So commuters park (not very neatly and near to rd junctions)in our close and nearby streets for all day. Grrh!

On the subject of blue badges, did anyone else read about the brand new hospital that has sited the disabled car park so far from the hospital entrance that they have had to fork out for a load of golf buggies to transport disabled patients. You couldn't make it up.

I see it a lot where I work - the road at the back of the office is a side street with double yellow lines all the way down one side. It's always full of cars with disabled badges displayed, very often with one frail occupant waiting for their relative or helper to return from the shops. What does annoy me is those who seem to think that because they have a blue badge they are entitled to park partially blocking road junctions, and even on corners!

It should be acknowledged that not everyone entitled to a blue badge looks disabled. People with heart conditions and respiratory problems, as well as children with behavioural issues, are not so obviously disabled as someone in a wheelchair or on crutches.

If a disabled space is being used the disabled person cannot stay in the car. The idea is to enable them to get closer to their destination not their relatives!

It is an offence to park in a designated disabled parking place if the person to whom the badge was issued is not in the car. My daughter's badge has her photograph on it. Misuse can lead to the badge being withdrawn.

I have just about the smallest 4 x 4 on the market. It is a Fiat Panda Climbing, 1.2 litre, petrol engine. The driving position is very upright, which suits my back. The second pair of wheels are brought into use when the driving wheels start to slip - no need for me to do anything. I love it and it has got me out of some tricky snowy situations!

@glammanana yes half the parking space [two spaces] belong to the upstairs flat. The previous owners thought that they could involve the police when someone unknown to them used their space. As it was off the road no action can be taken other then they having words with said driver. If they were parked in by someone parking across their drive then the offending car can be towed away.
I live in an area with a lot of elderly and infirm people. So a lot of blue badges are around. I frequently see these being misused by relatives who used the blue badge spaces when they haven't got the holder in the car. Is their a rule about this ?
All above comments seem to support my premise that there are a lot of selfish drivers around and not very many considerate ones.
@merlotgran@ my son has a 4x4 and its a bugger to get in and out of - I'm not infirm but getting on a bit and have arthritis. So it's a bit of a hop in and out. How a disabled driver/passenger manages is beyond me. My DIL has a well and fit 90 year old granny and she certainly couldn't get in the car.

I never use DH's blue badge to sneak into a disabled parking space if he's not with me but I have been guilty of dragging him into town on market day so I can use his badge to park. It's a nightmare trying to find a space and even the disabled ones are usually full.

Disabled spaces are often filled with very large 4x4s. I've seen the token blue badge holder nip out, get a stick out the back and toddle off to the shops with the other passengers. I'm not disabled but my knees are arthritic and I struggle to clamber into DD's Landrover Discovery although sliding out is easier than getting out of an ordinary car. We're hoping to change our car in the new year. We currently have an old Volvo estate which has served us well. Does anyone else on here find 4x4s easier to get in and out of? I wouldn't consider getting anything large but there are smaller ones and the higher driving position might be easier.

Trains run regularly to Euston from our town. People who live within walking distance of the station have a real problem with commuters taking up all the parking spaces from the crack of dawn until evening.

There is a perfectly good car park attached to the station but it costs £5.50. a day.

I think the commuters are being inconsiderate and it would serve them right if their cars got scratched.

As a disabled driver I get very cross with misuse of blue badges. I frequently see old people staying in the car in a disabled space while their fit relatives go in the shop and do the shopping. Also people using someone else's badge to park and shop.
Grrrrr

I live on the perimeter of a park, so am occasionally blocked in, or can't park by my house. There are no parking places past my little lane, it's all double yellow lines. I knew this when I moved in. Usually, cars move by teatime and I can get a space then. When I go somewhere that has a similar problem, like my GP's surgery, I figure that things will resolve themselves later in the day. I wouldn't dream of parking in someone's designated car space.

dorsetpennt Is this parking space related to the sale of the vacant flat,if it is then I'm sure the new owner would be allowed to put a no parking notice in the space,if it is not I'm not to sure if it an offence to park there?We sometimes have a problem similar as we live in supported housing and our parking spaces are not regulated to a specific flat,only four of us have cars and there are 8 spaces available so sometimes people who live opposite park in the remaining spaces even though there is a sign stating the spaces are for our use or our visitors use only,people are very inconsiderate sometimes,we do not have any disabled spaces these can be applied for if necessary,if we cannot park in our carpark we will park on the main Rd and grin and bear it until space is available.Unfortunatly people will go to great lengths to avoid paying to park and to be truthful I don't blame them as motorists are one of the biggest sourses of extra income to every local authority.

I guess I am guilty then because I hate parking charges and will walk or bus it rather than pay although of course sometimes it can't be avoided.. but I certainly wouldn't park on someone else's parking space, the roadway of course is fair game for anyone to use.

Not guilty dorset; I actually prefer to use a car park. They're mostly in convenient places and I usually keep some parking money handy in the glove compartment so that I don't get caught out by not having enough/the right change. The Wonderful Man on the other hand would rather park half a mile away and not have to pay parking fees.