Blue Badge 'police'

Finefoot

I agree with you Nicky.

sfmedusa

steve_sona wrote: »

I am 48,have a Blue Badge & oh boy, do the old people look offended because someone "young" has a badge.

As a former civil enforcement officer( new term for a traffic warden) i would suggest that you tell people that you have a disabled badge & are legally entitled to park in a disabled bay & if they are offended by that,they ask a traffic warden,civil enforcement officer( who must provide id) or a police officer to inspect your badge( police are the only people allowed to confiscate a disable badge),even then the ruling is that you must not be delayed & a civil enforcement officer is not allowed to wait for you to return to the car.

That's all very well, but the last person who challenged me (in a really public place, with loads of people as an audience) about whether I was entitled to use my blue badge, and then had the audacity to say that he thought my badge had been tampered with or stolen because I didn't look like the person in the picture was a civil enforcement officer.

After assuring him that it was genuine and providing him with a credit card in the name of the person named on the badge (i.e. me!) he got all huffy and finished our conversation with a comment to the effect of not being convinced and I should leave quickly before he summoned the police to investigate the fraud that I had committed.

That was just outside the gate to my local cancer hospital, where I had just been for a consultation. I was walking with my walking stick and the reason that I didn't look like the photo was because I was in floods of tears and my face was red and puffy. The person who had accompanied me for the appointment was all for asking for ID so that we could complain, but I just wanted to get home so didn't pursue it.

I'll admit that I'm young and look fine to casual observers. That's because I don't go out much on the days when I can't even sit up without serious pain and very few people notice paralysed arms, apparently.

steve_sona

Hi sfmedusa,

The CEO(civil enforcment officer) you spoke with has overstepped his remit & you have a right to lodge an official complaint with his/her employers,also with the BPA( British Parking Association).you have no obligation to prove your identity except by providing your badge for inspection.

i hope that nothing like this happens to anyone again,its a forgone conclusion that it will though, when i did the job,i found that with a couple of the people i worked with they became little hitlers,which makes it hard for people like me who worked very hard to be fair.if the CEO was being honest with you he would have informed you that he intended to report you to his superiors for Fraudulent use of a blue badge,the fact that he didnt do that speaks volumes,he is a liar who likes to intimidate people.
if this incident happened a short while ago, make a complaint.it will be investigated

NickyBat

sfmedusa - that is disgusting, i don't like confrontation at all but i think as laid back as i am that would have annoyed even me, clearly this person was abusing his "power" if you can call it that.
i can understand you just wanting to get away but if you can i think i would complain.

hubert_cumberdale

I will probably get attacked from all angles here

our postoffice used to have a 6 car layby out the front that you could stop in pick up a parcel and leave quick and easy.

they have now made these six bays disabled. well the other night i went to the post office 6:25 and it shuts at 6:30 i parked up and got out and was confronted by an old lady looking all over my windscreen obviously for my blue badge (heres where i get attacked as i dont have one)

she then ranted that i was the reason the world is such an awfull place and i should be ashamed of my self and that she hopes i live a life of misery! I didnt even say anything, i then pointed out that the probability of 6 disabled drivers turning up 5 minutes before the post office shuts is fairly slim. to which she erupted and hurled more abuse at me and said she would phone the police as i was running out of time i said ok call them and went in to get my parcel. when i returned she was stood infront of my door and wouldnt let me in my car!!!!!!! 10 minutes later the police had still not turned up so i wrote my number plate down for her and handed it to her and she seemed happy was the weirdest trip i have ever had to the post office.

i have never been confronted with an old lady before and i was in no way agressive or angry towards her as i usually give full respect to older people as they have been around longer than me so they come first but she was fierce

but i still feel that six disabled bays is way over the top they could at least have 1
but i will continue to use it as i cant see a problem with it at that time of night and i wouldnt do it if there were only 2 or 3 free.

NickyBat

hubert_cumberdale wrote: »

I will probably get attacked from all angles here

our postoffice used to have a 6 car layby out the front that you could stop in pick up a parcel and leave quick and easy.

they have now made these six bays disabled. well the other night i went to the post office 6:25 and it shuts at 6:30 i parked up and got out and was confronted by an old lady looking all over my windscreen obviously for my blue badge (heres where i get attacked as i dont have one)

she then ranted that i was the reason the world is such an awfull place and i should be ashamed of my self and that she hopes i live a life of misery! I didnt even say anything, i then pointed out that the probability of 6 disabled drivers turning up 5 minutes before the post office shuts is fairly slim. to which she erupted and hurled more abuse at me and said she would phone the police as i was running out of time i said ok call them and went in to get my parcel. when i returned she was stood infront of my door and wouldnt let me in my car!!!!!!! 10 minutes later the police had still not turned up so i wrote my number plate down for her and handed it to her and she seemed happy was the weirdest trip i have ever had to the post office.

i have never been confronted with an old lady before and i was in no way agressive or angry towards her as i usually give full respect to older people as they have been around longer than me so they come first but she was fierce

but i still feel that six disabled bays is way over the top they could at least have 1
but i will continue to use it as i cant see a problem with it at that time of night and i wouldnt do it if there were only 2 or 3 free.

You're brave posting that

hubert_cumberdale

i thought i may as wll since i have ruined the world already lol

steve_sona

Hi hubert,
must admit your post made me laugh.i do agree with you to some extent on the amount of disabled bays,6 out of 6 is a bit much,maybe the local authority should have made it 3 normal bays & 3 disabled bays.

the police would not have got involved,since parking decriminalisation the police have hardly any involvement in parking contraventions,how ever, i do wonder if the elderly lady realised that she could have been done for obstruction?.

i must admit, i was strict on disabled bays when i was in parking enforcement,if you were not allowed to be parked there,i would ask you twice to move your car,then i would tell you to move your car,if you didn't i would then issue a ticket to your car, i have been praised by the Police for this approach.
top marks to you for remaining calm & polite to the lady,most people wouldn't have been.

hubert_cumberdale

well i couldnt exactly be rude to her as she was correct in what she was saying and i shouldnt have been parking there really but i was just amazed that she was bothered about it to such extents while standing in the dark in the cold.

Indie_Kid

hubert_cumberdale wrote: »

she then ranted that i was the reason the world is such an awfull place and i should be ashamed of my self and that she hopes i live a life of misery! I didnt even say anything, i then pointed out that the probability of 6 disabled drivers turning up 5 minutes before the post office shuts is fairly slim.

Oh, that argument again. That doesn't matter. Would you like it if you were a BB holder and found that a non-BB holder had taken the last disabled space?