Blue badge parking

No, harrigran, I mean the perfectly able-bodied women we all see heading straight for the disabled toilets as soon as they see a bit of a queue they don't fancy joining at the Ladies. Usually with a nod and a wink and a "let's use the disabled loo" to their mate. They're pretty easy to spot.

Maggiemaybe the person in the disable toilet may be someone like me, I look absolutely fine but I have a stoma and a colostomy bag and need the facilities such as a washbasin in the cubicle. Most of the time I can be in and out as fast as a healthy person but just sometimes the appliance malfunctions and requires attention.

Well, I prefer not to use toilets meant for people with disabilities, cornerback, because I've seen someone in a wheelchair waiting for an unfeasibly long time for an able-bodied person to emerge. Does anyone else ever speculate as to what some women actually do in the cubicle for so long? Not a pleasant thought, I know, but my goodness some of them take an age

Our local Morrisons directs able bodied people to the disabled toilet when the others are busy or being cleaned. Makes sense to me, interested in opinions.

I have a condition that isn't visible so get lots of looks using a blue badge when parking. I found some patches on Ebay for my car which say" Not All Disabilitys Are Visible " . My daughters answer to anyone who says "you don't look sick" is "you don't look stupid" tends to get wide berth after that.

Non-disabled people often use the disabled loos at busy times in my area. Sometimes the disabled loo is within the ordinary loos anyway.

I don't think there's anything stopping an able-bodied person from using the toilets meant for disabled people as long as there isn't anyone waiting.

My late MIL was given a special key to access some locked facilities, but I'm pretty sure she never used it.

On a slightly different note (& hopefully not too controversial) can anyone tell me why disabled toilets or changing rooms cannot be used by able bodied people at busy times? It seems silly to have long queues at the others & an empty disabled bay. I have been told it might want to be used by someone disabled but why should they not have to wait like everyone else? Same thing in a larger M & S changing room when I wanted to use it so I could take my baby GD in in her pushchair. Sorry but don't get the reasoning on it.

An elderly friend has a Blue Badge, her son keeps it in his car in case she loses it!!! Oh yeah??
Also saw a car parked in the Parent and Child space at my local Morrisons. MOther looked about eighty, daughter about sixty....when does Parent and Child stop???

All for Blue Badge, Disabled parking etc etc but I get really narked when these spaces are misused.

I use a blue badge, use a walking stick, because I can't walk well, I have arthritis and Osteoarthritis, plus fibromyalgia, so the pain is constant, I was going to have a new hip, but was too young, now I am told, that I have arthritis in my spine, so he won't do the hip op, because it will make the way I walk, hard and I often see people using the badge, who seem to walk really well, no stick, no wheel chair .etc..how do they get away with it, when there are people who need one, can't get one it makes me so angry. you must complain to the taxi firm and ignore the idiots, Daphnebroon xx

I expect lots of people would judge a friend of mine and her teenage son parking in a disabled bay. What they can't see is his epilepsy and his severe autism, which causes him to be non-verbal and unable to keep himself safe, therefore requiring close supervision at all times.

My DH had work-relaated COPD, which contributed in a large part to his death.

He refused to give in to it and insisted on walking as much as he could, which towards the end wasn't very far at all, but as others have said, his incapacity was not obvious apart from his slowness but without the Blue Badge he wouldn't have gone out at all.

A friend of mine who is 56 has bad COPD which means he has severe lung restriction and has a blue badge. He sometimesis housebound on oxygen and you cant always tell by looking at him that he is so ill and restricted.
He cant walk far without gasping for breathe and is told to do as much as he can so sometimes he might walk around the supermarket instead of using one of their buggies as activity adds to his lungs working. His work left him in this condition so young.

You cant always tell what illness a person has, by looking at them. Some are remitting and relapsing - they get worse and less worse.

A few years ago before he retired DH worked with a young man in his twenties who had MS.
He had quite a hard nut look shaved head (think Phil Mitchell ) and drove a bright yellow car,he said people were always confronting him and were very judgemental because he had a blue badge.

My daughter has a Blue badge. She has mobility problems and just knowing that she can use the wider parking bays is a huge help to her. Because she is young (in her thirties) we have sometimes had people complain about her parking in a disabled bay but she does have genuine problems walking due to an issue with her hips/lower back. Many disabled parking bays are further away from the shop entrance than mother and baby bays so I am not sure why people get so jealous of anyone who has a Blue badge. My daughter would happily exchange her Blue badge to be fully mobile again and be able to play with my grandchildren.

The local Asda near where I worked had a manager who was always on the ball when it came to misuse of the spaces for disabled people and parents with children. If she became aware of anyone doing this, she would immediately put out a message over the tannoy asking "for the driver of car reg number xxxx, parked in a space reserved for disabled customers/those with young children, to come to the front door". If they were found to be genuinely misusing the spaces, she would speak to them very forcefully in full view of everyone going in and out of the store, and ask them how they would feel as a person needing the space if they arrived to find an able-bodied person with no young children occupying it. I used to want to applaud these lectures. I do hope she hasn't retired too, as we seemed to be much of an age!

I can walk away from my car looking terribly normal when I park up with my blue badge. What you don't see is me crawling back. If I wasn't able to park close to my destination, it would reduce the amount I could cope with. I have an invisible condition which needs me to pace myself in order to avoid total collapse. I see people looking at me judgementally but they'd only have to live a couple of days in my shoes and they'd get it. I have been sworn at and physically abused but I have to prove my condition at regular intervals. One elderly gentleman questioned my lack of a wheelchair (sometimes used) or crutches (I can't, my shoulders won't let me) and told me I was lucky I was too young to be disabled. I was born with the condition, you are never too young to be disabled. The only time I get angry is when people use the bays without badges. Yes, it is in my interest for the frauds to be exposed but nowadays more and more genuine people are getting bashed for something they can ill afford.
Incidentally, although you automatically get a blue badge if you get the enhanced mobility rate for DLA/PIP, you can use supporting evidence from a DR/Specialist if you get the lower rate.

Don't forget disabled toilets. As someone who has both arms (temporarily) out of action, I cannot manipulate the door locks or flushing systems of some ordinary toilets. So it's intensely annoying to wait for the disabled one to be vacated, especially when you can hear giggling kids in there and they eventually emerge fully made up and leaving it stinking of cheap scent they've doubtless shoplifted.

Ha, ha, I can't remember the last time I sprinted! My husband says I take Hobbit steps, I'm so slow. I have recently had to give up my job, a major blow, due to my numerous health conditions going crazy. I'll never work again.
The badge allows me to retain some level of independence. Good days I go out myself, bad days my husband drives me. I'm getting over a major rheumatoid flare up and had up to four hospital and doctor visits a week. Some days I could hardly walk. The Blue badge is a godsend, especially for hospital visits. The hospitals all seem to be at the top of a very steep hill!
I'm improving now, so going to make most of it. You would never know looking at me, that my prognosis is poor. You can't tell by looking at them if someone is eligible for a badge or not.

Here in France supermarkets have disabled bays marked with the notice, as someone on here has suggested, which say If you take my place you can also take my disability. Unfortunately people still park in those space who are perfectly able bodied ....disabled badges have to be worked for here quite hard ....my OH can now no longer walk far, and is unsteady on his feet ...throws the car door open so I have to find an end space in the car park .....but there is no way we would qualify for a badge ...and he wouldn't have one anyway !! ...but I was absolutely DELIGHTED to see, a few weeks ago, the Gendarme giving an on the spot fine (its usually 90 euros for everything here !) ...to someone parked in the disabled bay whilst his wife nipped to the paper shop ....what annoys me greatly is that on market days, both the disabled bays are taken up by market stalls ...there is one regular visitor, every day, whose wife brings him to the local cafe for his coffee ....there is nowhere for her to park ...I don't know if she has complained to the Mairie about the market stalls, but I know I would ! Another incident in the local supermarket queue ....people can use the Disabled check out if there is no disabled person wanting it ....well, there was a queue of able bodied people, and a wheelchair user arrived. The cashier beckoned her to the front of the queue and I couldn't believe it when a couple of people complained ! how can you do that !!!! They could have moved to another queue !

DaphneB I can truely appreciate your shock at FB I go on a very grown up ( not grown up in that sense lol) photography group last night a gentleman (the wrong word I think) put what I saw as a rather cryptic remark about a photo opportunity I asked him to explain and put two question marks after my remark, that seems to have sent him into overdrive I then had about 10 remarks from himself one after the other calling me a miserable sod, a saddo, that I was a rude and nasty person all in capitals, that he'd never liked me and never would ( I don't know him from Adam and had never had any run ins or contact with him in the past) I resorted to Admin who wrote a public reply on the thread requesting us to stop arguing !!!! I couldn't believe where it all came from I can only imagine he was drunk I truely hope so as I ve no idea where all this vitriol came from if he was in his right mind .....Very unsettling at night when you re on your own

But presumably you can't sprint, can you?

I too have a Blue Badge. I am one of those people who have hidden disabilities and often look really well when I'm not. After being off work for a long time, I returned to work. On my first day back I went to a meeting and parked in a disabled bay in the Local Council Offices. One of the senior officers came up to me and told me to get out of the space, I showed her my badge. She stormed in to the building, demanding to know my name, saying "There is nothing wrong with her! She is not disabled!" I was in a terrible state. Never judge a book by it's cover.
My daughter took me to a well known supermarket last weekend, half the disabled bays had cars with no badges displayed. I tweeted the complaints section of this huge supermarket chain, did they respond? They couldn't have cared less.

Chrishappy it is in your, and all genuine Blue Badge holders, to have these rogues outed, or 'judged' if you prefer that term.

Too many rogues out there abusing the system and taking parking places from genuine people like you.

I'm presuming, of course, that the young man I say park in a disabled bay at Tesco today, display a blue badge and then sprint to the cash machine wasn't a genuine BB holder, though of course he might have hidden disability

Please ladies stop judging people!!!! I have a blue badge, many invisible conditions including a disabled bowel which means I have to park and find a loo practically instantly !! I also have a degenerative back condition which you'd not know about by looking at me. I try very hard to act normal for want of better words. I've had 2 knee replacements in 12 months and can assure people you need the bigger parking space as you have to turn sideways on your seat then stand up straight which requires the car door to be wide open!!!