Sick of it

peter_the_piper

Am I the only one who's noticed that this post is only going one way, round in circles. Might I suggest, that as the new posters will only see us arguing amongst ourselves, that Mr Crabman locks this post. Its a complete waste of time as no-ones going to win.

Coupon-mad

DirectDebacle wrote: »

Unless you are disabled or care for a disabled person then you probably have no real idea of what their needs are. Their needs may well extend beyond your limited view of going into a shop.

Don't assume we don't have first-hand experience.

My late Mum who only died six months ago was disabled (I drove her around).

My late sister was disabled (I also drove her around as she couldn't drive).

My young niece is disabled (I drive her about as she cannot drive yet).

I was the Manager of a Disability Advice Centre for a number of years, recent years.

I was then employed as a Local Authority driver for disabled service users, until 2009.

I think that gives me enough personal and professional experience of the issue of parking with a disabled relative or disabled service-user in my vehicle.

And FWIW, philblue was one of the two cases I was thinking of, the other was in 2009. No others at all spring to mind where the person was in a private car park disabled bay. I can also recall one case on paidtoshop forums and could count on one hand the number of such cases I have read on pepipoo.com. And yes, I do read every thread on this MSE parking sub-board!

Your post clearly said 'the chances are that the reason they have received a PPC invoice is because they parked in a disabled bay'. Your words could hardly be misconstrued nor changed by quoting them 'out of context' - it's still a completely wrong assumption as it's such a rare reason for a PPC ticket thread.

DirectDebacle

Coupon-mad,

I made no assumptions in repect of your experience in caring for the disabled.

Now you have made you experience known I can understand your position. Issues concerning disability can become quite emotive, particularly where a loved one is involved.

I too have experience of caring for the disabled. That is why my post in respect of a disabled persons needs, were directed at sarahg1969 and no-one else. Clearly I disagreed with the content and tone of that post and that posters perception of the needs of the disabled.

You have the experience to form your own opinion of that posters view. If you agree with it that is entirely a matter for you. Likewise if you disagree with mine. Such opinions are very subjective and I will not debate them further.

In the case of philblue I am surprised you did not give him the advice you recommend in respect of sensible parking. Perhaps my post beat you to it and you felt any further comment unnecessary. Had you given such advice instead of I, then I suspect you would not have had it challenged so vehemently. It was that over-reaction by some posters that has ultimately led us to where we are now.

I am not going to enter into a semantics debate over who said what.

I had hoped that my post #38 would be my final one on this matter. This post is.

I sincerely wish you all the best for you and your family.

Good luck.

Coblcris

Moral issues are irrelevant.
You cannot be invoiced for your morals being different than other people's.
This IS a Money Saving forum not a philosphical one.

John22

hello, I parked in a disabled bay and i agree with th thoughts thy ar for disabled, i am abl bodied. Here is my plight; November 18th 2009, i parked in these bays at a local football stadium which was not in use for any games or friendlies on ths night, i run a under 14s footy team and training was on this night on the outside pitches. i was late, travelling from work 26 miles away, i have the balls and kit for training, i was also unwell, i parked in th bays to give the kit to th kids, and it was wrong, the bays are not used on these nights and i wanted to get the kit to the kids so they could commence training.
I dont have an xcuse its not something i even do but on this occassion i was given a 70 pound fine whilst i was away from the car. I ignord this as in the forums. A letter dated 8th March has arrived, asking for 400 pounds ans then 10 pounds for admin, but will be 110 pounds if paid in seven days or 20 pounds extra thearafter and court action. I will upset people over this but it was done due to lateness, feeling unwell and pressur of getting kids playing. Not my normal approach but i was caught for my first offence, and it is my first tim doing it.

reallytinyamy

As above I have done it once and on that occasion got a ticket , not that I had to pay it as they filled it out wrong

I had my newborn baby in the car, the car park had 2 M&B spaces which were both taken so I parked in the empty disabled space next to hem, given there were a total of 12 free and the previous day I had smacked a car with my door trying to manouever the baby out of the car.

In the same situation, I'd park there again I'm afraid!

sarahg1969

reallytinyamy wrote: »

As above I have done it once and on that occasion got a ticket , not that I had to pay it as they filled it out wrong

I had my newborn baby in the car, the car park had 2 M&B spaces which were both taken so I parked in the empty disabled space next to hem, given there were a total of 12 free and the previous day I had smacked a car with my door trying to manouever the baby out of the car.

In the same situation, I'd park there again I'm afraid!

You didn't have to pay anyway.

But you also don't need to use a disabled bay just because you have a child with you. Really, you don't. Just be a bit more careful, like fat people and people with very big cars have to be. And just like you would have to be if you parked in a car park that didn't have P&C bays.

Coupon-mad

John22 wrote: »

hello, I parked in a disabled bay and i agree with th thoughts thy ar for disabled, i am abl bodied. Here is my plight; November 18th 2009, i parked in these bays at a local football stadium which was not in use for any games or friendlies on ths night, i run a under 14s footy team and training was on this night on the outside pitches. i was late, travelling from work 26 miles away, i have the balls and kit for training, i was also unwell, i parked in th bays to give the kit to th kids, and it was wrong, the bays are not used on these nights and i wanted to get the kit to the kids so they could commence training.
I dont have an xcuse its not something i even do but on this occassion i was given a 70 pound fine whilst i was away from the car. I ignord this as in the forums. A letter dated 8th March has arrived, asking for 400 pounds ans then 10 pounds for admin, but will be 110 pounds if paid in seven days or 20 pounds extra thearafter and court action. I will upset people over this but it was done due to lateness, feeling unwell and pressur of getting kids playing. Not my normal approach but i was caught for my first offence, and it is my first tim doing it.

Well, first of all you shouldn't have parked in a disabled bay at all, even if you think they are not in use. Genuinely, the regular posters on here do not condone parking in these bays unless you or a passenger is disabled. Hopefully you've seen the error of your ways and won't park in a disabled bay again, you can see from this thread how much it upsets people!

But second of all, don't pay the charge if it was from a private parking company!

Ignore their letters, you may get 5 or 6 of them from debt collectors and the like. To see previews of typical letters you may receive (and to see which one is the last one in the series) check out the sticky thread at the top of this sub-board here 'what to expect':

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=163

Study the scans of letter in that first thread. Yours may be on there (or similar letters) which should help you see that people only get a few letters - then the scam fizzles out.

That's it, nothing else happens, no Court, no CCJ, no bailiff, no effect on your credit rating.

John22

Yes you are right about these bays. However i was there tonight and, I hav found out these bays are paid for yearly by th disabled 95 pounds to park on match days, other parking in the main car park is 5 pounds, however its free at all other times in the main car park.
not an excuse to park there i agree but it shows their use.

Coupon-mad

John22 wrote: »

Yes you are right about these bays. However i was there tonight and, I hav found out these bays are paid for yearly by th disabled 95 pounds to park on match days, other parking in the main car park is 5 pounds, however its free at all other times in the main car park.
not an excuse to park there i agree but it shows their use.

OK, but you need to forget about this now. You don't have to find out more or check any signage. Just ignore the scam ticket and the debt collector letters. Paying a firm of con-merchants is just not an option, it doesn't help the situation, it just lines the pockets of a third party who provide no useful service whatsoever, to you or to disabled people.

If you want, why not make a donation to a disability-related charity of your choice instead? Then you will feel that you have made up for your error and the scammers can still swivel...:D