Panorama Britain on the Fiddle

krisskross

Trialia wrote: »

One in ten thousand people it does, and yet I still get vilified by the idiot on the street for being a benefit 'fiddler' because I don't look sick.

How do they know you claim sickness related benefits? Do you wear a badge?

margaretclare

tottybum wrote: »

Do I lend my wife my blue badge? Yes of course I do - who doesn't?
But she doesn't use it on the public highway, only in supermarkets, hospitals etc.

I don't understand this.

Do I understand you to say that your wife is disabled herself so she uses your blue badge to save her walking e.g. to the supermarket?

If that's the case then why doesn't she apply for her own blue badge? DH and I have each got our own blue badge. In our town the traffic wardens look at blue badges displayed in parked cars and they can see whether the holder is male or female.

If your wife isn't disabled but borrows your badge then I think this is absolutely reprehensible. You appear to think it's quite OK, as you say 'who doesn't'? Well, I hope that not many people do.

Incidentally, my elder daughter claims DLA but works. No one has ever said that she shouldn't. She can't walk very far, but she can do the type of job that can be done sitting down.

cit_k

darkpool wrote: »

yoiu get all these stories in the media about "disabled" people who cant walk being caught running marathons. as long as people see these stories they will be suspicous about "disabled" with no obvious disability.

disabled people lending out their blue badge also causes problems.

You get them in the media, because they are newsworthy.

They are newsworth because they are RARE.

They are rare, because only a few hundred such cases per sickness benefit are proven each year.

There is not enough cases to even run a story each day, thats how rare these type of cases are.

cit_k

krisskross wrote: »

How do they know you claim sickness related benefits? Do you wear a badge?

People talk.

People assume.

They can see someone who does not go out to work, and they assume they are on benefits.

They dont see them down the jobcenter, ever, so they know they must not be on Jobseekers.

They put two and two together.

People also tell other people, friends, family, landlord, etc, any one of them could talk to someone else.

People ask, people are pretty nosy these days.

There are many ways people can either know, or guess your on sickness benefits.

Or you could be completely innocent, and have your name plastered all over the national press because your being 'investigated', only to be proven innocent later, with the media forgetting to cover that part of the story.

Or you could have a blue badge on your car.

Or they could see you down the doctors on a regular basis, or in the chemists, and know your not working, and put two and two together.

tottybum

emmell wrote: »

Well that girl on Panorama was parked in a shopping centre, she was going to work at Next and the enforcement officer took that BB.
And not all supermarket car parks are privately owned.
But I can't make my mind up if it's you that's at fault for lending the BB, or your wife for using it :mad:
Did she use your BB when she went shopping to the charity shop to get you a walking stick?
ML.

I don't think so. She was parked in a council run car park! Otherwise, the council would have had no right to enter onto the land.

The ones that my wife uses is private.

No, as I said she would never abuse the badge on a public highway or in a council run off street parking facility.

The Blue Badge scheme

[FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]
[FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]A Blue Badge will help you to park close to your destination, either as a passenger or driver. However, the badge is intended for on-street parking only. Off-street car parks, such as those provided in local authority, hospital or supermarket car parks are governed by separate rules. This leaflet will provide you with more information about where you can and cannot park in the on-street environment. [/FONT]
[/FONT]

Place [FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman][FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]Off-street car parks (such as supermarket, hospital or local authority car parks) [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]
[/FONT]
Conditions [FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman][FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]Off-street car park operators should provide parking spaces for disabled people. However, it is up to the car park owner to decide whether badge holders can park free of charge. [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica 55 Roman,Helvetica 55 Roman]
[/FONT]

tottybum

margaretclare wrote: »

I don't understand this.

Do I understand you to say that your wife is disabled herself so she uses your blue badge to save her walking e.g. to the supermarket?

If that's the case then why doesn't she apply for her own blue badge? DH and I have each got our own blue badge. In our town the traffic wardens look at blue badges displayed in parked cars and they can see whether the holder is male or female.

If your wife isn't disabled but borrows your badge then I think this is absolutely reprehensible. You appear to think it's quite OK, as you say 'who doesn't'? Well, I hope that not many people do.

Incidentally, my elder daughter claims DLA but works. No one has ever said that she shouldn't. She can't walk very far, but she can do the type of job that can be done sitting down.

Yes you fully understand the situation correctly. My wife is also disabled. In the main I am generally always in the car so the use of my blue badge is correct. She has arthritis and I have PAD which is blood clots in the arteries in both legs which make walking for both of us very difficult.
When she goes shopping she likes to be on her own, so uses my badge at Tescos. It is pretty apparent that she has mobility problems for all to see.

For the number of times that she isn't with me in the car is not worth going through all of the paperwork and assessment to get another blue badge for herself. We only have one car.

I tried to get DLA for mobility and care for myself just before I was 65, but the DWP refused it. My wife even tried to get AA at the same time, but it failed. Since then we never bothered anymore. Neither of us is 'registered' disabled because neither of us has been assessed as such, other then an assessment I had by an OT when I applied for my Blue Badge as I was fed up with having to try to walk miles from a car park or pay a parking fine, and we have had many of those!

emmell

Private car parks and hospital car parks sometimes have parking attendants so if one of these asked your wife to show YOUR BB, would she refuse and argue that she has a right to park in a disabled bay with someone elses BB.
If your wife is disabled what hassle is there in filling a form out and applying for BB, I didn't find it any hassle, quite easy actually, and no assessment. But then again, they had copies of my x ray report that showed the degeneration of my knees through arthritis.
What I don't understand is, if the BB is not for parking in car parks why does your wife use it, there is a lot more non-disabled spaces than there is disabled spaces and the reason disabled spaces are larger is because it's very difficult to get a wheelchair down the side of the car to get the disabled person out in a 'normal' parking space.
This argument could go on forever, you obviously know you are abusing the BB system and nothing anybody on here says is going to stop you, so maybe a £1000 fine and confiscation of the badge would help you to understand

Brassedoff

tottybum wrote: »

So did I surprisingly.

I see far too many drive up, park on double yellow lines and put up the blue badge, then out come two youngsters more than capable of walking.

Do I lend my wife my blue badge? Yes of course I do - who doesn't?
But she doesn't use it on the public highway, only in supermarkets, hospitals etc.

I don't. If you do, you deserve to lose it.

As for "catching" us yacht and Bentley owning disabled folk, shame on them. Are we not entitled to them? Come on, at 4mpg, you would blow your months DLA just putting petrol in it.

tottybum wrote: »

I saw that programme too. It was on the whole totally true.
The people they identified are no different to many that we know that are doing the same thing.
Two properties, one abroad and claiming benefit because they say they can't afford the rent on the Brtisih property.

I know of a scaffolder that lives next door but two who claims benefit because of his 'back injury' yet is still to be seen 30'+ up on the scaffolding nearly every day.
The local pub is well known for hiring young girls who are single mums to work shifts for cash in hand.
Then we have the guy at the other end of the street who runs a car & van repair business from his house and garage. At any one time there are at least 6 cars/vans of some description either on his drive or on the road being repaired. Then he moans every time about being made to sign on every week, never mind not telling anybody how much he is earning on the side.

If I know these few, then there must be a lot more. Benefit fraud is rife!
If it became public knowledge actually how much benefit fraud was going on instead of what was thought to be going on, everybody would be shocked.

tottybum, I have no idea what or where you live or the circles you chose to mix in, but I take your statement with a air of exasperation. Come on, if you know they are doing that, you have a duty to report it. If what you say is true, then you only add fuel to the fire of the Daily Pravda and their persecution of the truly deserving.

I have contacted the BBC and appeal to all money savers to do the same. Either via email by following this link or by calling the call centre here on 03700 100 222

The title of the complaint is:

Case number CAS-1086407-1T1VVK
Complaint type: Television
Location: England
Channel: BBC1
Programme title: Britain on the fiddle - Panorama
Transmission date: 03/11/2011
Complaint category: Factual Error or Inaccuracy
Complaint summary: Deliberate and offensive portrayal of the disabled as fraudsters

When watching the BBC News 24 magazine about complaints last week they interviewed Richard Bacon and he said that should the BBC get 20 complaints about one programme, it becomes twitchy bum time. Higher than that, they investigate it thoroughly and the BBC Trust gets involved.

I also draw them to various articles even from the BBC that contradict the TV programme. Mark Easton's article

Please post below if you lodge a complaint. It took me six minutes.

davsidipp

tottybum wrote: »

Yes you fully understand the situation correctly. My wife is also disabled. In the main I am generally always in the car so the use of my blue badge is correct. She has arthritis and I have PAD which is blood clots in the arteries in both legs which make walking for both of us very difficult.
When she goes shopping she likes to be on her own, so uses my badge at Tescos. It is pretty apparent that she has mobility problems for all to see.

For the number of times that she isn't with me in the car is not worth going through all of the paperwork and assessment to get another blue badge for herself. We only have one car.

I tried to get DLA for mobility and care for myself just before I was 65, but the DWP refused it. My wife even tried to get AA at the same time, but it failed. Since then we never bothered anymore. Neither of us is 'registered' disabled because neither of us has been assessed as such, other then an assessment I had by an OT when I applied for my Blue Badge as I was fed up with having to try to walk miles from a car park or pay a parking fine, and we have had many of those!

now comes out the real reason the bitterness you hold with others claiming dla you didnt get it yourself.

GlasweJen

Complaint submitted