Blitz on Disabled Parking Cheats by Supermarkets

kingfisherblue

Brassedoff wrote: »

Richie, you are so right. As the ESA and DLA are to be re-checked, so should blue badges in my opinion. Strict rulings applied. Only those with a physical disability on the higher rate of PIP/DLA should get it. Anyone else should have no right. They should also allow local authorities to adopt that part of the car park and Police it.

I saw a great programme on C4 the other day where the council and Police did a crackdown in one borough . In one day they ceased 28 badges from able bodied using a relatives badge, or worst still, younger relatives of older people who did not drive, applied for the badges to save money. They should also lose their benefit.

Fraud is fraud. Full stop.

And for the person who uses the spaces because the authorities "have not got around to assessing you". You are NOT ENTITLED yet, so don't use it. What if you are turned down? Will you continue to use the spaces because YOU think you qualify?

My MIL has a BB, but is too old to get DLA. She does receive AA though. She has physical problems with walking and cannot walk far, or without pain. she had a medical to get her BB, as she is not in receipt of HRM due to her age.

I don't know how to quote another poster in the same post, so I have copied and pasted this part from C_Mababejive:

Again,if someone is so disabled then how do they manage to get from the special parking space,into the supermarket ,all around the aisles,through the checkout and back again?

My son is disabled - he gets from the parking space into the supermarket in his wheelchair, which I push. He then stays in his wheelchair as we go round the shop, through the checkouts, and back to the car. We have a Nissan Note (from Motability), which I do not believe is excessive - I have three children and the car needs to transport all of us at times. It is the most suitable car for us, as it has removable boards in the boot. If you remove one of the boards, this makes space for a folded wheelchair to fit in securely. It also leaves sufficient space for shopping, nappies, feeds, medications, etc (my son needs all of these, even though he is 13).


I don't know whether it was this thread or another, but somewhere I have posted that I would prefer a disabled space to be longer, to allow the car boot to be opened when you reverse into a space. Reversing in means that you have increased visibility when driving out, but there is rarely enough room to get the wheelchair out unless you drive into a space forwards (except for spaces that abut the pavement). I wouldn't mind spaces being further away if only they were longer!

StephenM_2

Brassedoff wrote: »

Only those with a physical disability on the higher rate of PIP/DLA should get it. Anyone else should have no right.

My recently deceased father had a BB for the last six months of his life. He got it because he needed to be pushed in a wheelchair between the car and the hospital for his frequent appointments, and so needed to park somewhere with wider spaces and preferably closer to the entrance.

He didn't get DLA, though. He was too old for that.

Brassedoff

I have never judged a person with a blue badge not being able to get around anywhere should not go out. I can park, get to the Cafe, have a coffee whilst the wife does the shopping. You see, it makes me feel part of society still. I object to wholesale dishing out of the items. I believe all medical benefits and tied schemes need reappraising. Medical science has improved. Treatments has improved. Medications and aids have improved.

C_Mababejive, as for 4x4, I have one, I have a great big Range Rover, a nice big Supercharged one. I got it through working 80+ hours a week, employing dozens and dozens of people. I became disabled due to an accident where a delivery driver allowed something to fall off the lorry. I love the disabled bays. nice and big. I love the looks I get off people in their motability cars or the old folk who think I have brought it (the badge I mean), now I have had my insurance payout I can drive that car as it was garaged for three years. I still have my motability car as it is adapted. Should I give it back? I think not. I now give up some of my time by being a patients friend at my local hospital for those scared of the operation.

Before that I was a Policeman. Those blue three wheelers were proven dangerous to the driver. Does the poster seriously believe society should go back to locking up anyone who does not fit? If so, when did they become a Nazi? They thought the same. Those who did not fit, we disposed of. Out of site, out of mind, eh?

As for DLA, blue badges, ESA, JSA. Root out the fraudsters. Punish them. Don't persecute the genuine. It's not fair, it make you ill, it brings out the worst in society. I thought we were in the 21st Century.

I welcome any action that challenges the misuse of blue badges. As the BBC programme the other night proved. One days clampdown in a town centre found 28 cases of misuse. They were confiscated. Do that operation everywhere for the next few months and the problem will be cured. One caveat to that. If your badge has been taken due to you letting a friend or relative use it. Or if you are a parent misusing it. Sorry, you lose it permanently too. No second chances.

jetta_wales

I can't believe there are still people who think those little invalid carriages are the only government supported mobility that dissabled people should have. God forbid they should ever feel they have the right to have a child and maybe need a vehicle that can accommodate them too. Nope dissabled people should only have tiny cars so they can't ever put the kids bikes in the boot and take them to the park. God forbid they should ever want to go away and fit a family amount of luggage in their car or even do a big shop.

The government should only ever support dissabled people to have a meagre bare minimum existence and they should just accept that this is their place in society.

Words fail me!

Richie-from-the-Boro

On ATV's

Most of the people in this country do not need an urban 4x4 all terrain vehicle unless they live in a very remote area with no main 'A' roads, its a fashion based choice, not a needs based choice. I do however think that those that choose such a vehicle have very right to do so, if they can satisfy the already higher costs of running / taxing / congestion charge / insurance / parking / ferries / toll roads / etc.

On the disabled in general and ATV's or any other vehicle of any size, with or without a BB

99% of right minded disabled people DLA / BB or otherwise select a vehicle on functional grounds in the same way a carpenter would select a saw on vocational grounds .. .. does it do the job I need it to do ?

- self or helper driven - wheelchair side / rear / driver / passenger / hoist / autochair / Elap seat
- car - low entry / disembark
- MPV - high entry / disembark
- lowered floor full entry rams drive on
- leg / hip arthritics - big wide door full opening arc
- Multipla - flat floor / no door wells
- Auto - no left foot
- Multipla & others - no floor transmission tunnel / gear stick in dashboard
- and lots of others I could think of

Only after the ' does it do the job ' criteria is s satisfied do people consider the brand aesthetics.

jetta_wales

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

On ATV's

Most of the people in this country do not need an urban 4x4 all terrain vehicle unless they live in a very remote area with no main 'A' roads, its a fashion based choice, not a needs based choice. I do however think that those that choose such a vehicle have very right to do so, if they can satisfy the already higher costs of running / taxing / congestion charge / insurance / parking / ferries / toll roads / etc.

On the disabled in general and ATV's or any other vehicle of any size, with or without a BB

99% of right minded disabled people DLA / BB or otherwise select a vehicle on functional grounds in the same way a carpenter would select a saw on vocational grounds .. .. does it do the job I need it to do ?

- self or helper driven - wheelchair side / rear / driver / passenger / hoist / autochair / Elap seat
- car - low entry / disembark
- MPV - high entry / disembark
- lowered floor full entry rams drive on
- leg / hip arthritics - big wide door full opening arc
- Multipla - flat floor / no door wells
- Auto - no left foot
- Multipla & others - no floor transmission tunnel / gear stick in dashboard
- and lots of others I could think of

Only after the ' does it do the job ' criteria is s satisfied do people consider the brand aesthetics.

And also once suitability based on the disability is satisfied then dissabled people still have the same valid function needs from a car as anybody else does too like boot size, economy, engine size (no point driving a 1.1 if you regularly do motorway driving with a full car it'll drink fuel just trying to coupe).

For us the car itself doesn't need any adaptations or particularly specific features but I have kids and we try to have a life, can't fit a tent in the boot of a corsa. Oh wait I forgot we're probably not supposed to go camping either. Got a specially designed cane for the grass too what a waste.

Brassedoff

Richie,

I don't know if your post was aimed it me, but add

Brought the bloody thing before the market for that car went bump. Stuck with car that I own outright. Madness to lose thousands on it.

But, easy to get in and out. Fits my chair comfortably. Have to go down a tracked road to reach the main road, living on a country estate. Can control acceleration and breaking from steering wheel. Handles any pot-hole in the road without jarring back.

Apart from that, I agree. But lets not turn it into a me issue. Disabled due to accident and further Neurosurgeon !!!! up. Not because my back has gone due to being over weight or anything else.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Brassedoff wrote: »

Richie,

I don't know if your post was aimed it me, but add

Brought the bloody thing before the market for that car went bump. Stuck with car that I own outright. Madness to lose thousands on it.

But, easy to get in and out. Fits my chair comfortably. Have to go down a tracked road to reach the main road, living on a country estate. Can control acceleration and breaking from steering wheel. Handles any pot-hole in the road without jarring back.

Apart from that, I agree. But lets not turn it into a me issue. Disabled due to accident and further Neurosurgeon !!!! up. Not because my back has gone due to being over weight or anything else.

No mate is wasn't, I didn't even know you had posted till I hit the send button. It was aimed at no one in the particular, just everyone in general. You will see in my previous thread I defend anyone's right to own one.

Its right and proper that we do, if we want equal status / treatment for the disabled not to be discriminated against, we must give the same right to all.

liam8282

I can understand what people are saying here about people getting fancy cars on mobility.

I was under the impression that they were given an allowance to put towards a car, say £10k, then if they wanted a better car they had to pay the rest? Is this correct?

If so, this takes away the whole argument about people getting 1 certain type of car on mobility, because basically everyone is getting the same allowance the only difference is how they choose to use it.

Richie-from-the-Boro

liam8282 wrote: »

I can understand what people are saying here about people getting fancy cars on mobility.

I was under the impression that they were given an allowance to put towards a car, say £10k, then if they wanted a better car they had to pay the rest? Is this correct?

If so, this takes away the whole argument about people getting 1 certain type of car on mobility, because basically everyone is getting the same allowance the only difference is how they choose to use it.

You are 100% correct, and succinctly put !

The origin of the thread was about a "" Blitz carried out on Disabled Parking Cheats by Supermarkets "". As is always the case the thread is dragged sideways into different but adjacent areas of interest to a particular poster.

For myself the title of the thread "" Blitz on Disabled Parking Cheats by Supermarkets "" each person may see that differently, most posters in the thread have seen it in the wide and general terms of DLA / disabled.

I saw it in the narrower and specific terms of the Blue BB scheme itself, and its misuse. The BB scheme is there to allow people with severe mobility [ not the whole wide range of disability ] problems, who have difficulty using public transport, to park close to where they need to go. That's why the general benchmark qualifier is the higher rate of the Mobility Component of DLA.

Much of the current BB misuse will hopefully be addressed this year / next year. A roadmap has already been agreed but the new BB itself will be issued form Sept 2011.

- NHS assessors not GP will decide eligibility and independent assessments when eligibility is in doubt
- new guidance to LA's to stop the fiddlers / forgers / and national enforcement
- implementing a new national anti fraud BB design from Sept 2011
- power to employ local authority-authorised officers with a power to confiscate, on-the-spot, badges that have been cancelled or misused
- amending existing legislation to clarify wrongful use of a badge and the powers to inspect badges