Blue Badge and Where Can I Park?!

Brassedoff

Janninew, read the book that came with your badge. As for the hospital, when you are next there, ask the office that deals with the parking. Sorry the pry, is your baby's condition perminant or temporary?

Mojisola

Brassedoff wrote: »

Janninew, read the book that came with your badge. As for the hospital, when you are next there, ask the office that deals with the parking. Sorry the pry, is your baby's condition perminant or temporary?

This is the best idea. At our hospital, if the disabled slots are full they let you park anywhere - so long as you're not blocking the road or pavements and have paid the parking ticket.

janninew

Thanks for the replies!
Just back from the hospital now, went extra early to spend time finding a space, luckily as my appointment was so early there were a few left.

I was talking to my Daughters Consultant about how bad parking is and how small the car park is for such a large hospital. He was surprised that the staff on the Neonatal didn't explain before she was discharged that as we have direct access to the Children's Ward due to the seriousness of my Daughters condition, that we can get a pass from the hospital office and park on the drop/pick up point at any time!

Would have been really useful to be told this information sooner! Anyway went to the hospital office and got my car pass. The drop of/pick up point is on hospital grounds and only manned by their own staff so out of the Traffic Warden's remit.

I was wondering though, if you do get a ticket in the NHS car park is it enforceable? After reading another thread on here, I thought you only had to pay for tickets issued by the Council or the Police?

Very glad that I don't have to worry about parking again anyway!

Richie-from-the-Boro

- no .. .. you do not have to pay
- read this [amongst hundreds of other] threads
- read #19 in particular
- any more questions .. .. just ask !

pogofish

Is the OP aware that the Blue Badge Scheme does not apply in private car parks? This is made quite clear in two places in the handbook that comes with the badge and on every issuing authority website in the UK! This would include hospitals as most if not all now manage their parking privately.

What applies here is the Equality Act and that applies for every disabled person regardless of their having a badge or not, so yes, if your daughter did require this as a "reasonable adjustment" for coping with her condition, then yes the hospital would be legally bound to comply and let you park there. At least till you have loaded/unloaded her equipment and got her to a place where you could safely leave her to go move the car.

The best people to contact to discuss this would be the hospital themselves and do pop over to the Parking Forum if they try to give you the runaround or ticket you!

Ahh - just saw your update - excellent! That is exactly how they should have handled it.

janninew

pogofish wrote: »

Is the OP aware that the Blue Badge Scheme does not apply in private car parks? This is made quite clear in two places in the handbook that comes with the badge and on every issuing authority website in the UK! This would include hospitals as most if not all now manage their parking privately.

What applies here is the Equality Act and that applies for every disabled person regardless of their having a badge or not, so yes, if your daughter did require this as a "reasonable adjustment" for coping with her condition, then yes the hospital would be legally bound to comply and let you park there. At least till you have loaded/unloaded her equipment and got her to a place where you could safely leave her to go move the car.

The best people to contact to discuss this would be the hospital themselves and do pop over to the Parking Forum if they try to give you the runaround or ticket you!

Ahh - just saw your update - excellent! That is exactly how they should have handled it.

I do realise thanks that the blue badges are pretty pointless in supermarket car parks especially! Every time I go to Asda I see plenty of folk in the disabled spots who don't have badges, mainly they seem to park there so they can nip to the cash machines which are right next to the disabled spots.

I never take my Daughter to the supermarket so not an issue for me! Its a very inconsiderate thing to do though and I do wish people would realise that those spaces are for people who need to be close to the store and have more room to open the car doors.

The hospital is really the only place I go that I need to drive to at the moment, so at least I don't have to worry about parking any more. Its so much easy taking her in the pram and having the oxygen underneath.

Soapn

janninew wrote: »

I do realise thanks that the blue badges are pretty pointless in supermarket car parks especially! Every time I go to Asda I see plenty of folk in the disabled spots who don't have badges, mainly they seem to park there so they can nip to the cash machines which are right next to the disabled spots.

I never take my Daughter to the supermarket so not an issue for me! Its a very inconsiderate thing to do though and I do wish people would realise that those spaces are for people who need to be close to the store and have more room to open the car doors.

The hospital is really the only place I go that I need to drive to at the moment, so at least I don't have to worry about parking any more. Its so much easy taking her in the pram and having the oxygen underneath.

re the red underlined bit:

why do people need to be closer to the store, especially the likes of Asda, which can be cavernous inside? What difference does it make if you are parked 10 feet from the door, or 500 feet because of a blue badge?

As regards to need extra space for the door to be open, I can buy that. Try parking in the parent child space, that is what they are for.
I would also like to ask what kind of jam it would cause if for instance, 10 people are parked in the drop off/pick up part of the hospital because they have been told they can? Imagine the scene, with blaring horns and blazing tempers.

janninew

Soapn wrote: »

re the red underlined bit:

why do people need to be closer to the store, especially the likes of Asda, which can be cavernous inside? What difference does it make if you are parked 10 feet from the door, or 500 feet because of a blue badge?

As regards to need extra space for the door to be open, I can buy that. Try parking in the parent child space, that is what they are for.
I would also like to ask what kind of jam it would cause if for instance, 10 people are parked in the drop off/pick up part of the hospital because they have been told they can? Imagine the scene, with blaring horns and blazing tempers.

People may need to be closer to the store for many reasons, one reason that is relevant to me is that I have medical equipment in the car that I may need to get very quickly. As for parking in the parent child spaces, I don't need to as I already explained I don't take my baby shopping to Asda.

Would you like my Hospitals telephone number so you can complain about the jam it may cause? I'm doing nothing wrong and have been advised by the hospital that I can park there. It isn't a busy area and there aren't many children who have direct access to the children's ward who have been given permission so I don't think its an issue. I've been passing this area for the past 4 months to visit my sick child and have never seen any jams or blazing horns yet.

pogofish

Soapn wrote: »

why do people need to be closer to the store, especially the likes of Asda, which can be cavernous inside? What difference does it make if you are parked 10 feet from the door, or 500 feet because of a blue badge?

Try having a disability that leaves you in great pain and difficulty after moving even a few tens of feet. Then you appreciate how having your vehicle even a few yards closer to the store can make a big difference to the chore of doing your shopping.

But yes, since becoming disabled I do now tend to use smaller stores where I can get parked close to the door and have the minimum distance to get round the store. It still hurts like blazes though!

Mupette

janninew wrote: »

People may need to be closer to the store for many reasons, one reason that is relevant to me is that I have medical equipment in the car that I may need to get very quickly. As for parking in the parent child spaces, I don't need to as I already explained I don't take my baby shopping to Asda.

Would you like my Hospitals telephone number so you can complain about the jam it may cause? I'm doing nothing wrong and have been advised by the hospital that I can park there. It isn't a busy area and there aren't many children who have direct access to the children's ward who have been given permission so I don't think its an issue. I've been passing this area for the past 4 months to visit my sick child and have never seen any jams or blazing horns yet.

Never Mind Soapn, as far as they are concerned anyone who has a BB is faking it,or they b1tch with their facts very wrong.

OK Richie may have got your back up, but he was absolutely correct and he was just making sure you knew the correct facts. Tough love was what he was doing and he wasn't being harsh trust me, he will tell you whats right.

Ok you have your pass so you can park in the drop off point, but that will just be something for that hospital, any others it is wise to ring in advanced first.

Supermarkets you don't need to use a BB, private parking rules are different, you get an invoice through the post for parking somewhere on private land, bin it.

do have a good read of your bb book, it will make things clearer for the roads etc,

And don't take things to heart on here, you are having a stressful time with a wee lil one, and you don't need to prove anything, some people like to upset others, we tend not to feed those.

Rich is a nice person honest, i can see where he was firm with you so you don't get in trouble being a newbie with a bb. It wasn't personal, he was trying to help.