Grrr - blue badge

zzzLazyDaisy

I have a genuine chronic health condition that can put me in bed for weeks at a time. I receive DLA high rate care and mobility, indefinitely - and you dont get that easily. On the days that I am well enough to go out I am dependent on my car, but I know that to people who dont know me I look like a young (ish!) fit healthy person. Sometimes I walk with a stick, sometimes I don't. But I need the disabled bays because I need the extra space to be able to get out of my car.

I know it is tempting to judge, but you can't always tell if a person is disabled just by looking at them (although I will admit, I couldnt sprint to a cash machine, even on my best days!)

daska

So far, on the examples given, the chances of my 'rule of thumb' being generally incorrect would seem to be negligible?

Babshubbie

daska wrote: »

So far, on the examples given, the chances of my 'rule of thumb' being generally incorrect would seem to be negligible?

I think you are absolutely right, daska.

The dispute is what to do about it. There is a school of thought that says no-one should be challenged because disabilities are often not obvious. The other school say you should challenge and those who genuinely have a disability should not mind these challenges.

Overriding all of that, though, is a real need for the criteria for issue of Blue Badges to be standardised and enforced not by local councils, but by central government, with renewals not issued as a formality.

pipkin71

Thinking of you sleepymy and wish a speedy recovery for both your father and brother.

Pipkin xxx

daska

I don't think you need to be rude. A simple "I'm hope you don't mind me mentioning but you appear to have forgotten to display your blue badge"... If they're genuine surely they'll say thank you...

calleyw

tenacioust123 wrote: »

. I questioned a guy at our local asda, he had parked in a disabled bay, he raced across the car park with a young lad. The answer was he was shopping for his disabled mother so that entitled him to park in a disabled bay

That was the old orange scheme that ended years ago.

It made no sense to me. My husband is disabled I am not. So if I am running errands for him why do I need to park in a disabled bay

Yours

Calley

colin13

I have MS walk slowly with walking stick,,last week went to supermarket,a youngish lady pulled in her her lovely mini ,jumped out and walked past me at pace (which aint hard),me being in a bad mood decided to comment on the fact ,thet she looked ok and was walking fine,and she had parked in a disabled bay,, she replied that she had blue badge ,,because in hurry never put it up,,and that she had a false leg,, that is /will be the 1 and only time I challange someone about parking in a disabled space:) felt such a prat after it:)

chnelomi

I know this is sort off of topic but one thing that gets me really annoyed is people that use the pick up drop off points as parking bays. now if it's a blue badge holder i wouldn't mind, but when it's someone that's obviously able bodied(you know the ones that through the kids on their shoulders)and runs off into the store, it really drives me nuts.

i regularly need to use drop off points as i have disabled people in my family but lately i have found that people use them for using the kiosks in the supermarket or nipping to the cash machine, because they'll only be 10 minutes.
i end up having to drive round and round till a space comes free so i can drop off whomever i have that day and then find a space(i dont mind walking from the far end of car parks). And then once our shopping is done i have the same thing over again, i hate having to block traffic to get a wheel chair folded into the car.:mad::mad::mad:

basicaly i dont think their is any thing that can be done to get people to use spaces correctly. lets face it they use dissabled when no one is they park in child spaces when theirs no kids and count their shopping as the pick up, when useing pick up and drop off spaces.

just had a thought maybe we should all have chips in our lisences to swipe in a machine to park in these spaces and if you are not permitted to use the space your automaticaly fined/clamped.lol:beer: nanny state:eek:

McKneff

I dont know what all the fuss is about being challenged whether you have a blue badge or not. If you have a blue badge and are challenged look at it another way. These people who do the challenging are looking out for you, the disabled, they are making sure that people like you get the spaces you deserve and that someone who they are unsure of are not taking your spaces up.

I challenged someone politely not long ago and the old genteman took it in the nicest possible way and actually thanked me

sleepymy

anniehanlon wrote: »

I dont know what all the fuss is about being challenged whether you have a blue badge or not. If you have a blue badge and are challenged look at it another way. These people who do the challenging are looking out for you, the disabled, they are making sure that people like you get the spaces you deserve and that someone who they are unsure of are not taking your spaces up.

I challenged someone politely not long ago and the old genteman took it in the nicest possible way and actually thanked me

It's not so much about being challenged, it's the manner in which it's sometimes done. Some people can be very rude and even aggressive about it. It's really not nice when someone shout's "are you disabled" across a crowded car park and you find yourself in the glare of several strangers awaiting your response. My husband caught two elderly people going around our car literally pressing their noses against the windows when the badge was clearly on the dashboard. I've heard plenty of stories about blue badger holders being cursed and screamed at and harassed by pensioners because they're 'too young to be disabled'.

I've read blue bade holders on here talk about sticking sarcastic notes to people's windscreen when there's no badge present. I sometimes forget to put my badge up, I really wouldn't be too happy about having to stand scraping adhesive off my car before being able to drive home.

A polite question if fine but some people seem to take it too far.