General Chat

My son has a physical disability and is a full time wheelchair user. One busy saturday we were in a queue to get into the supermarket car park. The disabled bays were over the other side so on seeing there were several spaces over there and being a blue badge holder I drove the car past the waiting cars to get to one. I noticed a car behind me do the same. I parked in the space and displayed the disabled badge. The car in question had pulled in beside me, we both got out of our card at the same time, I went to the boot to get the wheelchair out and she went to her boot to get out her shopping bags!!! She looked at me and said "Oh you are obviously are entitled to park there, I thought you were doing the same as me and parking here anyway!" I gave her a bit of a look and said "Yes, my 12 year old son is disabled" She looked shame faced, put her bags back in the car and reversed out of the space, saying sorry whilst doing so. She re-joined the queue for a normal parking space. It did restore my faith a little I must admit.

Having said that I often see the spaces being abused but I have NEVER challenged anyone for fear of verbal abuse, which is sad really because if more people challenged mis-users maybe they would think twice.

What do others think??
Tina

Tina. you were quite right to say something.
A couple of months ago, my daughter was taking me to a certain D.I.Y shop. The disabled spaces were full, but I noticed that on car had 2 adults and a teenager sitting in it.
As I approached the shop, I stopped and looked at their dashboard, saw no blue badge, and knocked on the window.
The driver soon moved when I asked if they had a blue badge. She moved, but didn't say sorry.

If I see someone parked next to me in the disabled bay who obviously has no right to be parked in there I just make a big deal of getting the wheelchair out of the boot-huffing and puffing!!! Then when my son's in the wheelchair I say, "We won't be long, I know you hate shopping, sorry I know we're getting wet!" that sort of thing in quite a loud voice and too be honest because he's a child in a wheelchair I often gets looks from people who seem to be having a few pangs of guilt.

With me though it is more about parking in a wide space than the closeness to shops, I am perfectly able bodied and as my son is still quite young i's not too much trouble pushing him across the car park. But I defo need the door to be open on the car really wide to allow my son to get out the car and into the wheelchair safely and without feer of knocking into the next car.

At our local hospital I saw the other day they have disabled parking spaces and they also have disabled spaces specifically for wheelchair users that are much wider than the others.

I have enjoyed reading this debate, we should all speak up for ourselves to try and shame people who misuse this service
Tina

I suppose that,had I been thick skined enough to park regularly in disabled spaces, that family would never have been able to drive me away.

Being a bit of a pragmatist but trying never to cause problems to others who have more than enough, I did park in a parent/child parking dpace in a hypermarket. It was close on closing time,there were at least twenty of these spaces empty and they were not going to fill while I was in there.

It didn't stop a man driving across the car park to ask me where my child was.

Truly,I don't go out of my way to inconvenience others.On the rare occasions I bend the rules a bit under pressure, why am I the one who gets the flak?

I suppose that,had I been thick skined enough to park regularly in disabled spaces, that family would never have been able to drive me away.

Being a bit of a pragmatist but trying never to cause problems to others who have more than enough, I did park in a parent/child parking dpace in a hypermarket. It was close on closing time,there were at least twenty of these spaces empty and they were not going to fill while I was in there.

It didn't stop a man driving across the car park to ask me where my child was.

Truly,I don't go out of my way to inconvenience others.On the rare occasions I bend the rules a bit under pressure, why am I the one who gets the flak?

Sharron If you do not have a blue badge you should not park in a disabled bay.
As I said before I could get one no problem as I am on high rate mobility, but I would never park in a disabled space without one.

jax

It was not a disabled space.

I know that was'nt.... maybe I am reading your post wrong from the beginning...not to worry then

jax

One was yellow lines and the other was one of very many empty parent and child spaces.

Jax - Sharon did say it was a parent/child space and was close to closing time and lots of bays empty

I did say not to worry then

jax

If you had misread my post then so may others. I didn't want you all to think I would park in disabled bays.

Of course it would be impossible to work but it would suit me well to have a place to park when you might have a temporary need for convenient parking.When OH has gout or my back is doing it's thing we may need to go into the supermarket pharmacy in person and could do with a bit of leeway.We usually work it so that one drives and drops the other off and picks them up but it must is can be very uncomfortable if we are alone.

IF there were twenty ish empty disabled spaces I would probably use one
if there were only a few empty D/A spaces then i'd find somewhere else to park.
Like this evening needed to use the cash machine, car park virtually empty....Sains..........was closed so I'd park where its convenient.....

Bob

You should have taken the reg numbers and reported them Chris.

All Disabled people are not passengers and not all disabilities are visible. A blue badge entitalment is very hard to get. I had to prove that I had a mobility pension before I could have a permanent one. They are not given out for temporary injuries or after a disablement has been surgically repaired.

Although not needing a wheel chair I am unable to walk any distance and I need the extra space provided to enable me to get in and out of the car. I am often asked what is the matter and am happy to tell them.

I get very cross with people who resent the use of disabled parking, perhaps they would like to try living with a permanent problem, seeing no chance of any improvement and often permanent pain.

Taking the reg numbers wouldn't do any good, the badge is for the person not the car. My mum has a blue badge, she doesn't drive but my stepfather does so it's used in their car. If I drove and was taking my mum somewhere she could use it in my car so long as it was her getting out of the car and walking to the place she needed to be.

It's worth keeping in mind the essential difference between a disabled bay and a parent and child bay.

The former is legally enforceable, the other is set aside by the car park owner for the convenience of the user.

So in a virtually empty car park disabled bays are taboo for non badge holders, but it MAY be acceptable to use a parent and child bay if you are absolutely certain that there is no chance of a parent requiring it.

I found this which could be of interest re parking in a parent/child space


http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/living/motoring-section/not-all-childs-play


jax

Some years agoI had not long been out of hospital after a triple bypass, but obviously nothing showed. We were going to park in one of the only two disabled bays where we were going, but found a car parked across the two. I asked the young womwan who was satin it if she was able to move the car, but she said no. So we waited until the mother came back after ten minutes and i confronted her. I can do without this today, she said, and the young one got out of the car to say I didnt look as if I was disabled anyway. As I have several disabilities I was incensed and told her that she shouldnt judge by appearances. and gave her the list of my problems and asked her to cahange places. She shut up and they went. They will think twice before dpoing it again.

My other half went to our local Mo&&isons not so long ago and as he was approaching the shop he noticed a man park his farrari across a couple of the spaces.
A couple of staff members were outside having a ciggie and told him to move ( it was'nt the first time this man had done this apperantly) His reply was" I'm not parking it over there it might get scratched"

I think if I was there at the time my keys could well be in my hand lol

jax