Blue Badge Aprking

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  • I have a Blue Badge. I dont have it so that I don't pay for parking, I have it so that I can use the disabled parking bays which are closer (though not always) to the place I want to be. I would quite happily pay so long as the disabled bays are available and the meters were next to the bays rather then at the furthest point away. If the disabled bays are full, I have to drive around looking for a space where I can fully open the car door - this usually means at the end of the row furthest from where I want to be.

    :confused: My local Hospital Trust has two sites; at the main site Blue Badge holders don't pay wherever they park:T , at the second site you are only exempt if parked in one of 3 disabled bays (which are the same size as the other spaces :mad: , so no advantage to me ). I have asked about this and was told that they were "looking into charges generally".
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,234
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    suncityboy wrote: »
    I have a Blue Badge. I dont have it so that I don't pay for parking, I have it so that I can use the disabled parking bays which are closer (though not always) to the place I want to be. I would quite happily pay so long as the disabled bays are available and the meters were next to the bays rather then at the furthest point away. If the disabled bays are full, I have to drive around looking for a space where I can fully open the car door - this usually means at the end of the row furthest from where I want to be.
    Yep, I agree with suncityboy. The vital thing is that the space is wide enough for Mr LW to put my wheelchair next to the car for me. Which brings me to the question of why, when the disabled bays are clearly marked, do three cars park in two bays,overhanging the sides of the bays, and thus making wheelchair access for the next bay along impossible? It happens regularly in a location near me. I assume the culprits are able to walk, and have another disability, but you'd think they'd be a bit more considerate.:mad:
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • easy
    easy Posts: 2,516
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    Here in Nottingham, our main city centre (council owned) carparks allow free blue badge parking for up to 4 hours. If you stay longer than that, you pay for the excess time.

    It stops people from borrowing/nicking a BB then driving in to city centre work and parking all day for free.

    I'm a blue badge holder, and when I worked for a city centre office on a short contract, I could only park on street. Used to try to get an on-street pay & display place to park. If I couldn't, I had to nip out after 3 hours and move my car round the corner onto the next street double yellows, then do it again 3 hours later.
    I try not to get too stressed out on the forum. I won't argue, i'll just leave a thread if you don't like what I say. :)
  • Here in Peterborough the council wants to charge Blue badge holders. Ok, but here is my point -
    Councillors have awarded themselves free parking
    They take up a street in P'boro which would be ideal if allocated to b.badge holders - the council car park is just across the road from the town hall - I really don't understand why able bodied councillors can't use it (yes, actually I can - because they would have to look for a space like everyone else).
    I'm on the war path about this (you may have noticed). I'd love to hear from anyone who's own town is doing the same? I plan spending the weekend looking up some precedents.
    My focus is not so much on the charging (which I think is morally wrong too) but on the basic provison of spaces.
    Please PM me so I don't hog the board
    many thanks
  • Unity
    Unity Posts: 1,524
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    At our local hospital they do not charge for Blue Badge parking (yet :rolleyes:) which probably explains why there is a recognised problem of non-disabled staff members borrowing Blue Badges from friends/relatives in order to avoid the staff parking charges! It's usually quite noticeable as, they appear just after 8 a.m. every morning (in the same spaces), some of the regular 4x4's look inaccessible to anyone who isn't 'fit' and one particular car is a bright shade of yellow. Other members of staff often comment on what a disgrace it is.:naughty:. There are more CCTV cameras than you can shake a stick at (used primarily to catch out patients who have nipped out for a quick cigarette, as it's not allowed - even outside the hospital boundaries) - so you would think they could do something about these fraudsters - but do they? :rotfl:

    This huge hospital is ridiculously short on parking spaces of any description - since they demolished a multi-storey car park as part of "developments", now, patients, staff and the disabled are forced to park outside in the surrounding streets. Of course this doesn't please the residents who think they also have an automatic right to park and even place cones (God knows where they've pinched these from:eek:) plastic paint buckets and planks of wood to stop people from parking (bl**dy cheek:mad:). The fact that they all have off-road parking at the rear of their properties - on their own land, doesn't stop them doing this either :rolleyes:. They don't seem to realise that a tremendous amount of people cannot park outside their own homes because they live on roads with double yellow lines :doh:- I myself do - and I wouldn't park, although technically I have the right to with my badge as there are no bars on the kerbs.

    It is just this sort of dog in a manger attitude that causes all sorts of problems including a lack of access for emergency service vehicles - but you can bet they'd soon be out shifting their silly cones, if it was their house on fire :mad:! The best idea would be to put double yellow lines down one side of the road then at least emergency vehicles and deliveries would have access.

    Just because they say an Englishman's home is his castle - doesn't mean he has the right to a bl**dy moat as well. Life would be an awful lot easier if there was just a modicum of give and take, but unfortunately our society seems to have more than its far share of the 'MF' brigade we've all met them - 'Me First, Me First!':rolleyes:
    Some people hear voices, some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever :D
  • swecri
    swecri Posts: 66
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    Can I just slip in a little reply here to Unity's last post....

    I believe that there is a chance NHS staff are abusing the disabled badge facility by parking with a badge to avoid staff parking charges at the hospital, but I also think it is very 'easy' for disabled people to look at EVERYONE suspiciosly who is not using a wheelchair or moving on foot without a visable walking aid ect. I am a disabled person, and you can not see whats wrong with me. I also work, full time, AND I'm 5 months pregnant. I get so worn down with people (particularly those who are also blue badge holders!) who think they have the right to judge / challenge or loudly react to my use of a disabled bay, making the assumption that 'I've borrowed my nans badge' just because I manage to work ect. I've also been targeted because people think I have the badge because I'm pregnant. The fact I'm pregnant actually means my use of the badge is vital, to ensure I minimise my risks of premature labour, organ failure and other risks I am more suseptable to.

    I am not trying to have a go, I'm simply trying to highlight the fact that while some people work, and use disabled facilities, they can still be disabled!!! Although, I understand the frustration, and annoyance at how obvious it is, however please give it some thought. I work and park in a disabled bay when I go to work, and I work for the Police. So whether its the NHS, the Council, or even a supermarket, disabled employees can still use disabled facilities!!
  • Unity
    Unity Posts: 1,524
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    swecri wrote: »
    Can I just slip in a little reply here to Unity's last post....

    I believe that there is a chance NHS staff are abusing the disabled badge facility by parking with a badge to avoid staff parking charges at the hospital, but I also think it is very 'easy' for disabled people to look at EVERYONE suspiciosly who is not using a wheelchair or moving on foot without a visable walking aid ect. I am a disabled person, and you can not see whats wrong with me. I also work, full time, AND I'm 5 months pregnant. I get so worn down with people (particularly those who are also blue badge holders!) who think they have the right to judge / challenge or loudly react to my use of a disabled bay, making the assumption that 'I've borrowed my nans badge' just because I manage to work ect. I've also been targeted because people think I have the badge because I'm pregnant. The fact I'm pregnant actually means my use of the badge is vital, to ensure I minimise my risks of premature labour, organ failure and other risks I am more suseptable to.

    I am not trying to have a go, I'm simply trying to highlight the fact that while some people work, and use disabled facilities, they can still be disabled!!! Although, I understand the frustration, and annoyance at how obvious it is, however please give it some thought. I work and park in a disabled bay when I go to work, and I work for the Police. So whether its the NHS, the Council, or even a supermarket, disabled employees can still use disabled facilities!!

    The NHS staff who constantly flout the disabled parking rules at my local hospital are definitely using badges belonging to friends/relatives - without question. They are well known and they know who they are, as other members of staff have pointed them out, even to security. The fact is that some of them openly admit that they are using a relative's badge, because they see the charges as being totally wrong and other members of staff have been heard to agree with them, saying they wish they had the nerve to do the same!:angry:

    I am truly sorry if you felt in any way criticised by my last post - that certainly wasn't my intention and furthermore, we are in much the same boat - except that I'm not pregnant :rotfl:(been there and done that) excruciating though it was and worse because of my disability.

    Sad to say, I've had countless dirty looks for well over thirty years because mostly people thought I looked too young to be disabled.

    A few years ago I was in a wheelchair and the comments suddenly stopped - so I see where you are coming from. The fact that I've recently started using elbow crutches doesn't seem to deter them either and I've even been asked straight out: "What have you done to your leg?" as if it is something transitory :rolleyes:. I sometimes feel like saying: "It's my spine and brain that are well and truly bu**ered - would you like to see?" but why should I have to justify myself? Nor should you :T.

    I would never make assumptions about the disabilities of others, because I know what it feels like. Perhaps if I hadn't had to spend so much time in hospital I wouldn't have got to know and be friends with certain staff members - who also know the Blue Badge abusers ;).

    Good luck with your pregnancy and look these people straight in the eye until they look away:o - or get the Blue Badge out and point to the picture saying: "By doesn't she look remarkably like me?":rotfl::rotfl:.
    Some people hear voices, some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever :D
  • swecri
    swecri Posts: 66
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    I could go on forever about the different types of people who have challenged my 'choice of parking' and quite frankly I get so so bored of it. I am only 21 too, and the amount of people who have approached me and asked why I have a blue badge, I am always open and honest (even though I know I shouldn't have to or it's no one elses business) I feel it is important, because iggnorance stems from a poor undersatanding little or no education about a illness, and I tell people whats wrong with me in the hope they then 1) feel silly, and 2) They then think twice about volountarily patroling and monitoring the use of disabled bays. People say that it's because I 'look young fit and healthy' and ironicly its always the disabled people who walk without wheelchairs or sticks that say it.

    It really sounds like like the nurses at the local hospital are abusing the facility. I can remember there being a change in the law recently whereby parking attendants are legally allowed to ask to see the picture of a persons badge and fining the culprits.
    How about asking what company manages the hospital car park? naybe drop them a few emails, or letters and ask them to try to patroll and monitor the situation?
    grab a few pics of the culprits? or write a petition....ask the staff to sign it?! I'm sure other genuine disabled badge users would gladly sign it! If you struggle with a response then a little letter to the local TV news / local papers might help to highlight the problem. And CC the letters / correspondance to the local Primary Care Trust...or even your local MP...I could go on forever!
    I was a support worker until recently, and represented people with Mental Health illnesses and being disabled myself meant I was all the more determined to defend peoples rights.

    Maybe drop me a line if you fancy going ahead...I can send you some useful letters ect....Good Luck if you do decide to go for it!!

    And Thanks for the last post! :)
  • filey1
    filey1 Posts: 13 Forumite
    My husband had once parked on double yellow lines opposite a shop in my hometown so we could buy a cordless phone to make life a bit easier for me. The trouble was that where we parked had decreased the exit point of some hardstanding, but there was still enough room for a decent driver to get out. A woman who worked at the estate agents across the road (and used the hardstanding to park) came flying out at me and shouted in my face "the worse thing in the world are the bloody disabled and their parking concessions" It was really quite upsetting for me, I was on my crutches and my husband ushered me into the shop and had a few choice words for her. The thing is the worse thing in the world is being disabled and having to use parking concessions, i'd love to be able to walk great distances. Some time later the double yellow lines were altered to disabled parking I bet that woman was seething, sometimes, just sometimes karma works =)
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