Disabled parking bay ticket

eric232

Only disabled spaces in Doctor's car park so used one to meet appointment - yes, daft but appointments are important. Private parking firm charge on return. Sign does say 'disable badges only' and my 'offence' is not desplaying same. Question: do I follow the frequent advice found on these sorts of site and ignore ticket and later invoices and demands - or pay up and smile? Anybody out there with similar experiences?

custardy

regardless of the legal side
morally i think you should donate at least the charge to a charity for the disabled.

peter_the_piper

Whilst I don't disagree with Custardys sentiment, if the ppc is charging their usual stupid amounts (£50-100) then its unrealistic to expect this amount as a donation. By all means ignore as normal but follow Custardys idea with a donation.

jellytastic

as a disabled driver it winds me up, if i cant park close to where im going i have to go home and miss my appointment. Happens very often.

I recently parked on chevrons at end of disabled parking spaces and got a ticket, i paid up as i was in the wrong. Never mind the fact that had i not parked on the chevrons i couldnt get my prescription - i was in the wrong so i paid up. I thought I would take the chance and I got caught!!!

peter_the_piper

Assuming you were in a private car park there is no reason for you to have paid anything. Just come back and ask if it happens again.

Coupon-mad

jellytastic wrote: »

as a disabled driver it winds me up, if i cant park close to where im going i have to go home and miss my appointment. Happens very often.

I recently parked on chevrons at end of disabled parking spaces and got a ticket, i paid up as i was in the wrong. Never mind the fact that had i not parked on the chevrons i couldnt get my prescription - i was in the wrong so i paid up. I thought I would take the chance and I got caught!!!

Sorry, but what winds you up exactly? I know the OP parked in a disabled bay and was not disabled (which none of us here condone at all) but what makes you assume that on an average day, other cars have less right to park there than you do?

Finding that the pseudo 'disabled bays' in a private car park happen to be full at the moment you want to park in one, doesn't mean that non-disabled people have parked there. Maybe several disabled drivers/passengers have taken the spaces (very possible, many people fit the DDA definition of disability and have as much right to park there as someone with a Blue Badge).

A nearly-full car park happens to me fairly often as well, and I don't start ranting about the people who got there first, I wait for a space to become available. No, I'm not disabled, that's my point, full car parking spaces happen to everyone, it's a fact of life that some retail car parks are busy.

How do you know that the drivers/passengers who beat you to the spaces don't have a disability, bearing in mind that they don't have to display a Blue Badge on private land (as the scheme only applies on the public highway)? Do you feel that disabled drivers/passengers should be turned away if they don't have a Blue Badge? If a retailer does so then of course they'd be in breach of the DDA.

Do you think that when you take the last disabled space, there might just be another disabled driver passenger behind you who is equally wound up? Wrongly - because you and the other cars may ALL be parked there legitimately.

The problem isn't necessarily the drivers of other cars when you find the disabled bays all full. The problem could be the retailer has not made sufficient adjustments under the terms of the DDA.

More spaces may be needed, that's the first issue to address.

And pleeeeease tell us that you didn't just pay a private parking ticket because you thought you were in the wrong? You are an MSEer and you paid a [STRIKE]phishing emai[/STRIKE]l scam parking ticket? They are the same sort of scam as phishing emails - please don't fall for it again, do check on MSE forums first.

That's the second issue to address, the fact that the retailer uses a firm who issued an illegal penalty - and you paid it. Write to the retailer & claim it back, you've been had.

(If it was a Council ticket you could have appealed and probably won. Again, check the forums before coughing up your hard-earned cash).

martinbuckley

Is this the only time you would willingly take the place of a disabled person?

jellytastic

sorry i dont know how to do quotes!

It makes me mad when people without blue badges park in disabled spaces because they are fit enough to park further away and walk to their desired shop! If I cant park near where Im going I cant go - plain as!

It was a PCN parking ticket and I was in the wrong so I paid.

trisontana

jellytastic wrote: »

sorry i dont know how to do quotes!

It makes me mad when people without blue badges park in disabled spaces because they are fit enough to park further away and walk to their desired shop! If I cant park near where Im going I cant go - plain as!

It was a PCN parking ticket and I was in the wrong so I paid.

But you need not have paid. The blue badge scheme, and those so-called chevrons on a private car-park have no basis in law. You are playing the game of the private parking company by paying up because you thought you had broke their so-called "rules."

I could just as well say to you "I have made a rule that I will demand a fine of £50 from anyone I see walking down a street in a red shirt". The PPC's "rules" are as enforceable as that.

Coupon-mad

jellytastic wrote: »

sorry i dont know how to do quotes!

It makes me mad when people without blue badges park in disabled spaces because they are fit enough to park further away and walk to their desired shop! If I cant park near where Im going I cant go - plain as!

It was a PCN parking ticket and I was in the wrong so I paid.

I understand completely what you are saying, I have disabled relatives and used to work as a driver for disabled service-users. I know you need to be near the shops and would never condone a driver with no disability and no disabled passengers, to park in a disabled bay of any type.

But I firmly believe you should be mad at the RETAILER for not providing enough 'disabled' bays if they are usually full. This is a basic provision under the DDA and if the spaces are usually full then they need to paint some more in the spaces nearest the store.

Why be mad at other drivers who may be disabled or have disabled passengers but not displaying a Blue Badge. Disability isn't always visible and as Blue Badges don't apply in private car parks how can anyone judge?

You should also be mad at the RETAILER if you got what you are calling a 'PCN ticket' but if it wasn't from the Council you have been had, you have fallen for a scam. You are not in the wrong to park out of a bay in a private car park, and no private company can issue a fine for it.

(As I said before, if your 'PCN ticket' was a REAL one from the Council you could have appealed it, never mind that you were 'in the wrong' as you have a right of appeal).

taffy056

jellytastic wrote: »

It makes me mad when people without blue badges park in disabled spaces because they are fit enough to park further away and walk to their desired shop! If I cant park near where Im going I cant go - plain as!

I sympathise with you on having problems with parking , obviously its a factor when you are shopping, but you are not a doctor, you cannot determine if someone is fit enough to park in a disabled bay simply by looking at them, disability comes in many forms, physically as well as mentally, they have as much right to park there as you if they have a disability, even if they don't show a badge. The blue badge scheme is not valid for private parking car parks

As mentioned on full car parks, you have to wait for a space to open up, it happens to me quite often that I have drive around looking for spaces.