Grrr - blue badge

Babshubbie

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I feel that the blue badge entitlement should go by if you are on DLA well you should have the high rate of mobility and the high rate of care, that will get the parking spaces empty.

I agree with much of what you say, but don't forget that you can be both elderly AND disabled. If you are elderly you cannot claim DLA so that cannot be the sole criterion. From what I have read earlier in this thread, Scotland seem to be fairly lavish in granting Blue Badges.

Mojisola

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I go into town nearby, in that city we have blue badges and also green badges. The green badges are for genuine disability, people who are permanently in a wheelchair whether adult or child, you have to pay £20 per year for that one. Everytime I have gone in the green badge parking spaces are always empty. I feel that the blue badge entitlement should go by if you are on DLA well you should have the high rate of mobility and the high rate of care, that will get the parking spaces empty.

Do you really think that only people in wheelchairs have a genuine disability?

I know people who are wheelchair users who work and also have very active social lives. Does someone with a serious heart condition or lung problem and who is disabled by their poor health not count in your view?

P4ula

The local authorities around here now only let cars with disabled tax discs park free in the council car parks. Also the shopping centre which has a private car park only lets cars with a disabled tax disc park in the disabled parking bays.

There has been lots of letters in the local press about it and they and the local law centre investigated it and apparently because it is a private car park the owners can choose to totally ignore the blue badge system if they wish and introduce any system they like for disabled parking including such as issuing their own badges for a fee or only letting disabled taxed cars park in the bays (apparently in law the Blue Badge Scheme only applies on a road). This has lead to a lot of old people getting parking tickets because they think they are entitled to park with the blue badge (I have to admit though there are plenty of signs about it though).

We enquiried if this was age discrimination as over 65's cannot get DLA but were told it is not because some people can still have a disabled tax after 65 (war veterans and those already receiving DLA) so there seems no way around it other than to not bother shopping there but as it's the only shopping centre in town (and surrounded by yellow lines with kerb markings) it does make things difficult for older disabled people.

I sometimes think the whole system needs an overhaul.

Paula

LameWolf

P4ula wrote: »

The local authorities around here now only let cars with disabled tax discs park free in the council car parks. Also the shopping centre which has a private car park only lets cars with a disabled tax disc park in the disabled parking bays.

This is unfortunate for people who do not have their own car, but are still (genuinely disabled) blue badge holders. My husband uses our car for work, so we don't have a disabled tax disc, but I still need to use my wheelchair if we go out, as I cannot walk. I don't have my own car, as I cannot go out shopping etc unaided, so it's pointless to have one myself. I guess I won't be visiting your neck of the woods for a shopping trip.:o

Mojisola

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

That was wrongly worded it is not just people in wheelchairs, sorry about that.
What I meant to say was, up here in Scotland I don't know if they do it in England, we have a green badge in some of the cities, they are specifically for people who need a vehicle be it a wheelchair or a mobility scooter to get around, as you know the parking spaces normally are small. Only the desperate, indeed myself and others who need a vehicle to get about will go and pay the £20 per year.

Thanks for clarifying that.

bigturnip

All these local schemes like 'green badges' and the need for a disabled tax disc should be stopped, they only add to the confusion and fragmentation of the blue badge scheme. Every council seem to have their own rules for blue badge holders, it's about time that a national set of rules were introduced and they should be backed up by strong legislation.

Rebel

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I agree with Big turnip

The criteria for the blue badge should be nationalised and it must be used only for the worst disabilities but what can you do when even GP's give them out willynilly to all and sundry.

Errrrr since WHEN did GP's get to decide who is or is not entitled to a "blue badge"?

I have a question for the peron who implied people with wheelchairs or electric wheelcheirs should get precidence over other disabled people, I will need to be careful with my language because I don't wish to be banned, but ANYONE in an electric wheelchair is far more mobile than a genuine disabled person who chooses not to use a wheelchair even if they have been advised they should so why should wheelchair users get precidence?

I hve been a blue badge holder for a number of years, I also get free RFL I have problems walking due to spinal injuries and am in constant pain, but I cannot use a walking aid since I have little sensation down one side of my body as a result of the spinal injury.

I have also had a couple of heart attacks and had heart surgery which helped but by no means cured my problem, I fall over regularly without warning (spinal chord damage) and yet according to skcollobcat10

First off priority should be given to anybody in an electric wheelchair or manual wheelchair, adults and children.

My reply is ******** if you are in a wheelchair you can travel a darn sight further than I can and I am in constant pain whereas while you are in a wheelchair and MAY not be in pain at all (NOTE I SAID MAY NOT BE IN PAIN) it is equally possible you are in pain so it would be wrong of me to make generalisations just as it is wrong of you to do the same.

I had to undergo numerous medical examinations before my DLA was granted and after a number of years when it was obvious I was getting worse it was granted for life, why should anyone in a wheelchair be given priority over someone in my position? Especially when the battery in their electric wheelchair means they can travel miles and not yards.

As for the people confined to manual wheelchairs, did you see the athletes in the special olympics playing basketball and the like FROM THEIR WHEELCHAIRS, they certainly don't need priority over people like me yet they are also wheelchair users.

There is LOTS of abuse of disabled bays, only tonight i went to the shop with my wife, she drove and I left my badge in my car by mistake, we did NOT park in a disabled bay, we managed to find an empty bay less than 10 feet away, as I struggled out of the car we saw ssomeone in workmans overalls getting out of a megane coupe sports car who parked in the last disabled bay available, he ran into the shop and went all round while we were in the first aisle, to me that's abusing disabled bays and needs dealing with.

I would love to see vehicles without disabled badges being subject to fines for using them, in the USA where we went on holiday about 5 years ago, anyone caught in a disabled bay without a badge was subject to a standard $250 fine and could be subject to a "Tow away" as well, that meant the disabled bays were available for the people intended until we do something similar in this country nothing will ever change imho.

pazza

Rebel wrote: »

Errrrr since WHEN did GP's get to decide who is or is not entitled to a "blue badge"?

I have a question for the peron who implied people with wheelchairs or electric wheelcheirs should get precidence over other disabled people, I will need to be careful with my language because I don't wish to be banned, but ANYONE in an electric wheelchair is far more mobile than a genuine disabled person who chooses not to use a wheelchair even if they have been advised they should so why should wheelchair users get precidence?

I hve been a blue badge holder for a number of years, I also get free RFL I have problems walking due to spinal injuries and am in constant pain, but I cannot use a walking aid since I have little sensation down one side of my body as a result of the spinal injury.

I have also had a couple of heart attacks and had heart surgery which helped but by no means cured my problem, I fall over regularly without warning (spinal chord damage) and yet according to skcollobcat10

My reply is ******** if you are in a wheelchair you can travel a darn sight further than I can and I am in constant pain whereas while you are in a wheelchair and MAY not be in pain at all (NOTE I SAID MAY NOT BE IN PAIN) it is equally possible you are in pain so it would be wrong of me to make generalisations just as it is wrong of you to do the same.

I had to undergo numerous medical examinations before my DLA was granted and after a number of years when it was obvious I was getting worse it was granted for life, why should anyone in a wheelchair be given priority over someone in my position? Especially when the battery in their electric wheelchair means they can travel miles and not yards.

As for the people confined to manual wheelchairs, did you see the athletes in the special olympics playing basketball and the like FROM THEIR WHEELCHAIRS, they certainly don't need priority over people like me yet they are also wheelchair users.

There is LOTS of abuse of disabled bays, only tonight i went to the shop with my wife, she drove and I left my badge in my car by mistake, we did NOT park in a disabled bay, we managed to find an empty bay less than 10 feet away, as I struggled out of the car we saw ssomeone in workmans overalls getting out of a megane coupe sports car who parked in the last disabled bay available, he ran into the shop and went all round while we were in the first aisle, to me that's abusing disabled bays and needs dealing with.

I would love to see vehicles without disabled badges being subject to fines for using them, in the USA where we went on holiday about 5 years ago, anyone caught in a disabled bay without a badge was subject to a standard $250 fine and could be subject to a "Tow away" as well, that meant the disabled bays were available for the people intended until we do something similar in this country nothing will ever change imho.

Hi Rebel,

I appreciate your point about wheelchair users having more mobility that non-wheelchair disabled people, but to get my wheelchair out of my car I have to open my door FULLY. This would be impossible in a normal parking bay with a car parked next to me.

Whenever the car park is empty I happily park as far away as possible from the entrance (in a space where a car can't park next to me) just because if I'm going to go to the effort of assembling a wheelchair I might as well make it worthwhile.

Anyway, my point is, for us wheelies, it's not about parking close, it's about having the space to get our equipment out.
If they put the disabled parking at the far end of the carpark, I'd use it every time.

sheeps68

pazza wrote: »

Anyway, my point is, for us wheelies, it's not about parking close, it's about having the space to get our equipment out.
If they put the disabled parking at the far end of the carpark, I'd use it every time.

I think your post just shows the diversity of our needs. I need a close space as run out of puff so quickly. Not being able to breathe is quite disabling but to others I l look fine, no sticks, visible aids or chair. However on a good day when breathing is less restricted I will not use those spaces in the hope that those who need them have more chance. However there will always be those inconsiderate people who misuse them for no reason at all beyond inconsiderate, lazy and selfish.

Rebel

Now that sounds like a plan, perhaps they could put some extra wide spaces in specifically for people like yourself even if they are an extra few yards away, however that of course costs money and is only any use IF they actually prevent able bodied people abusing them.

My point is you as a wheelchair user have not asked for priority over other disabled people and from your post I strongly suspect you don't want it, like many of us all you want is to be able to reasonably access the facilities non disabled people can.