Blue Badge Aprking

Alan49

Yes my wife is getting lower level allowance because of treatment she is on and my daughter and I are having to look after her because she's wasn't up to cooking meals. The stupid thing is we have only asked for a blue badge while she is on treatment. she doesn't want it permanently and we are almost half way through the first year. by the time these people finally agree to giving her a blue badge she will be hopefully coming through it. They do make you want to spit feathers don't they!

Unity

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

The thing that REALLY annoys me is when a car park charges blue badge holders to park..... and then puts the nearest machine at the farthest end of the car park. I had to give up the other day, because having hobbled over to one machine and found it out of order, I was directed to another just as far away at the other end of the car park.#

It is bonkers! What's the point in providing special parking spaces for disabled people close to the shop entrance, and then making them walk there and back to the ticket machine?

Not to mention the ones with ticket machines too high to reach from a wheelchair :rolleyes:.

how1

Calm down, Calm down.....Put on a shell suit and join in with the vibe!
Stop arguing - read the rules and agree to disagree at least??

DJBenson

bobmccluckie wrote: »

the number of people using these things who are quite clearly not entitled to them

My toes curl every time I read this. How do you know who is or isn't entitled to a blue card? Do they need to in a wheelchair or barely able to put one foot in front of the other to satisfy you? My daughter has a blue badge after 3 brain tumours left her partially sighted with 50% vision loss, no use of left arm and weakened left leg. She manages to 'hide' it very well and at a quick glance I'm sure you'd say you didn't think she was entitled. I can assure you she is.

Not sure if you simply misunderstood my comment but when I said "using these things" I was referrering to the bays themselves - having witnessed an incident at Asda that very day with a bunch of chavs refusing to move from the bay they were hogging and being abusive to the member of staff for suggesting they move, I thought it fitting to include this...but as I said, that is for another topic.

My condition doesn't always make it aparent that I am entitled to use a blue badge, but a panel has decided that I do warrent it so people who give me funny looks more often than not get a comment before I slap my badge on the dash, they usually just curl up and die of embarassment. :T

bigzippy

I agree that no discrimation has occured. It would be nice if they all offered BB holders free parking but I don't expect it. We too have been struck down by the smiting of the almighty ticketers and phoned up about it, to be told that it wasn't available - we were dozy and didn't check/realise it was a privately owned carpark - so we paid up.

My issues with that carpark were actually more the fact that the disabled access was appalling. The only disabled spaces there were (all of about 2 in a multistory!) were full and on the ground floor. After that we had to boot my mother-in-law out of her wheelchair for every set of stairs (and there were many). It was hideous and put her off visiting Blackpool again for life!

DJBenson

Blackpool is terrible for disabled parking, most of the council carparks have had their disabled concessions removed.

Ossy

As a disabled person the main advantage of a disabled parking bay is the extra room allowed for getting out of the car, some parking sections are so cramped that to leave the car is impossible. In this area ,parking for badge holders is free but just a short distance away, a disabled person pays to park even when using a designated bay.

swecri

I aggree with many things which have been said on here. I am a blue badge holder and I am a 21 year old female.

I was unlucky enough to be diagnosed with many chronic illnesses which have been quite disruptive and hurt!

However, every single day I thank my lucky stars for the help the Government gives me through DLA, Vehicle Tax exemption and my Blue Badge. I managed for a year after diagnosis without all of these benefits and schemes, just because I didn't know that they existed. And I struggled, and it made me ill walking everywhere because I couldn't afford a car ect.
I was and still am so so grateful for all the help I now get. It all makes life so much easier, and while sometimes I am in pain, I try to remember it would hurt loads more if I'd had to walk further from the car into Asda without my Blue Badge.

I never ever mind 'Paying' in pay and display car parks. I think it's very easy for people who recieve 'help' from the government to call the 'discrimination' card when they are asked and expected to pay like the rest of society. I get DLA, and it might be worth reminding people, that these payments are there to be used to help pay for the costs of added little expenses...LIKE CAR PARKING! The UK is full of people who believe that the world owes them something, but I think I am personally so lucky that I live in a country which even has a Blue Badge scheme!!

Unity

Ossy wrote: »

As a disabled person the main advantage of a disabled parking bay is the extra room allowed for getting out of the car, some parking sections are so cramped that to leave the car is impossible.

There's a certain area at the back of some shops in our town with just single yellow lines - so it has become the 'unofficial' disabled car park - since we are very badly off for car-parks of any description and those that we have are too far away from the centre for most people to hobble/wheel. It's regularly patrolled by traffic [strike]wasps[/strike] wardens so only those non-disabled but without a brain would ever dream of parking there :rolleyes:.

Now - you would think since everyone is in more or less the same disabled boat, complete with blue badges and clocks properly displayed - we would notice things about those we are parking next to - like the large blue sticker on a side window that asks nicely: "Please leave room - access needed for wheelchair". If that isn't enough of a clue - there's a big window sticker on the back saying: "My other car is a broom" :rotfl:- now I wouldn't p*** someone off sporting one of those - might get turned into a frog:eek: . Hence we are very careful where we park , but time and again we see others parking too close - even when they have seen the notice.

I have to say that when it's happened and I am really sorry to say this, it is usually someone of the older generation who should really know better. They seem to have the opinion that because they are older they should have more rights - irrespective of how it inconveniences others. I've seen the problems caused in these situations such as, a bloke having to sit in his wheelchair, in the rain and wait for someone to return to their car - after they've parked so close that only an extremely thin, supple person could manage to get in. There's not even an apology - in fact the way they look, it's as if he has no right being there. Talk about ignorance being no excuse :mad:.

They are also the ones with the very sharp elbows who will push past, despite seeing the difficulties I'm having in trying to get about with elbow crutches .

These days I will often comment (in a stage whisper) to my DH that, wisdom doesn't always come with age - sometimes age just comes alone :rotfl:.

nikki1979uk

this thread interested me as i am a blue badge holder too, i dont understand what all the fuss is about, if a company lets me park for free in their carpark, then that is very nice of them and i am grateful, but i dont expect it, why should i?
it is'nt discrimination to charge full price parking, it is discrimination to charge more to be disabled parking.

this is what i think is hapening in hospital carparks, i went to the parking office and asked what benifits give you exemptions from parking, i was told income support and housing benifit, neither are disabled benifits so the disabled people who need to use the hospitals more have to pay, when people who ont need it get it free.
also is it not discriminaton against able bodied people for blue bage holders to park on double yellow lines?

people who are saying all this is discrimination give disabled people who aknowledge the rules and restrictions a bad name,

isnt it about time we were equal? and if you want that equality then you have to be prrepared to give equality to everyone, not just disabled, able bodied people have just as much right to things as disabled