temporary disability parking

Ralph-y

Ironically I was looking to post on this topic anyway but after a few posts today I have brought it forward a bit. (I was going to wait till I had a few more visits)

I have broached this subject before with no real answers/ solutions being apparent so ......

I have just had a full knee replacement and so as you would expect I am on crutches...... Relevance to follow .......

Over the pass few months a few posts have been made about people with temp disabilities, or people with passengers who have disabilities (including 2 today) parking in disabled bays in supermarkets.
In the two cases above no blue badge would be available , and as seen can lead to possible PNC's .

We can of course discuss this issue .... but my original intention was to see what the supermarket response would be if you approached customer services to, can I / I just have parked in a disabled bay with out a blue badge ........

I have made a small start to find out what the response would be at my local Asda.

Two day's ago my wife drove me to Asda .... left me sitting in the car in the sunshine while she went to customer services.......

Now I do not want to start a rant about my local store ......... I have yet to see a single ticket on a car ever !

When asked the question above the honest answer was, we do not know ........ several conversations followed, several staff members where called ....

and (please note that the tone of the CS response was 'trying to help')

the general advice given to my wife was .... don't park in disabled bay park in a parent / toddler bay ...... as the parking company (who only visit occasionally) would / may ticket you for parking in the disabled bay ... but not the parent / toddler bay.

The wife had been under instruction to not start any discussion on the rights and wrongs .... just to see what they would say.

So I will go back / ring / write soon to give my opinion to them, in hopefully a positive way.

Finally to my point ....... can any one point me towards any snip-its/ section ..... of the Equality Act or other advice/ guidance that I should be aware of / use in any further discussions?

My intention is while I am temp inconvenienced .... I might as well try the above at several supermarkets, to get a broader view of attitudes. ......

Opinions please

Ralph:cool:

Redx

some useful recent links

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5282931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5259741

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5251882

Indie_Kid

The Equalities Act doesn't apply to people with temporary disabilities.

Ralph-y

Redx , thanks for links ...... they amongst the one's that I tried to refer to .... I am reading through them again for further clarity.

Indie Kid I am fully aware of that and its my fault that I did not make this clear.:o

My intention is not to come up with some way for temp disabled people to have a 'right' to park there ...... I am the sort of person who spots a clearly (please lets not start an 'how do you know' battle) fully fit person parking in a Dis Bay ..... that takes the car reg , and informs customer service..... then it is up to them.

but maybe to see if there would be any interest for supermarkets to help people in short term need. As for the PPC's ..... only an idiot would think that they would be interested....

Perhaps in my own naive way wonder if a supermarket would receive kudos for having some sort of lee way ......

I understand that every car park if different and there could never be an easy one stop solution.

I hope that maybe some of the local supermarkets may become more enlightened by some good advice .... including some of the real facts like non discrimination under the equalities act for non blue badge disabled persons....

any way I am sorry if I am making a fist of this .....

Ralph:cool:

lazer

It can't be that difficult to run some sort of scheme to help those with temporary disabilities, for example a broken leg would mean a trip to a&e, other injuries a trip to the doctors.
So perhaps allow the doctors to issue temporary blue badges with an expiry date, like a sick note.

After a fall last week I badly hurt my knee, could barely walk, and needed food, thankfully the space closest to the disabled bays was free so I didn't have to go far, but people do have temporary issues that affect mobility justice much as long term injuries, so I do think some provision could be made for this.

nigelbb

It's Asda's car park they make the rules for who parks where otherwise it's the PPC tail wagging the supermarket dog. It would be simple enough for Asda to manage a white list of car that are allowed to park in disabled spaces. No need for a doctor's note just a declaration form signed the temporarily disabled person.

keepitlegal

This is and always will be problematic, let me explain.
You cannot link the EA2010 and the blue badge scheme, in private car parks we often see on this site info on how to park in a disabled space and not have a blue badge, (I know the blue badge scheme does not apply to private car parks) by quoting we have a disability listed under the EA2010.
Blue badges are for use on the highway and council owned car parks, until we divorce the two we will always go round in circles.
I know of one chap who's leg was in plaster and walked with crutches, he never parked in a disabled space but parked in a parent and toddler space instead, this enabled him to fully open his door to exit/enter the car, that facility is available for ANYONE to use.
In answer to the OP, I don't think a temporary blue badge is required in this case.

Keepitlegal

Half_way

As its private land, the supermarket should be able to give you permission to park absolutely anywhere on their site should they wish to do so.

I asked in a supermarket, and a few other places on behalf of someone else if they could use a disabled bay ( despite that person not yet receiving their blue badge ) and was given the nothing to do with us, you must have a blue badge to use, illegal etc etc line by the customer support staff/duty manager.

So if you want to use a certain space, and you have a good reason to use it, even if its a temporary disability, then it would be advisable to get permission first from someone higher up the food chain,
if you can get permission then you need to have it in writing ( or print off the email ) and hand it to customer support then if you do get a ticket anything the PPC may try and do will be effectively over ruled as the principal has given you permission.

Redx

as far as the blue badge is concerned, its not a "badge for life"

it costs £10 at the moment and lasts for 3 years

there is no reason why it could not be issued for a different length of time, so if an operation was expected to give one year of disability then they could limit the expiry date to one year and not three , same for two years etc

but if it was likely to be 3 months then maybe its too much trouble and strife to be inundated with paperwork for such temporary disabilities, so an alternative needs to be put into place

its been done before , like driving licenses for example

mine is pink and last until I am 70 (unless I change address or something else needs to be done) , so its a "lifetime license" , then it changes to say 3 years at a time , regular renewals

new driving licenses last 10 years maximum AFAIK

the problem is it needs a driving force to make the changes, so I suggested a few options in the government survey a few months ago

I dont have the magic answer, as many dont, but I think that some changes are needed as the BB scheme has failed to keep pace with the DDA1995 AND 2005 and now the EA 2010

Half_way

Although, is it the blue badge that fails the EA, or the way private parking companies and land owners use it to show who is entitled to use disabled spaces?

Ralph-y

the above has been interesting , but has raised the problems of any change to the overlapping blue badge scheme/ Equalities act/ parking on private land/ ......situations / scenarios ............

any such change is likely to be long term ..... unless the Government survey flags up such and they decide to act

Part of my intention (to stop me from getting to bored while recuperating) was to first test attitudes in my local (ish) stores .... then see what responses would be to education on these matters .....

would / will 19 out of 20 be interested, or tell me go go away

(we can run a book on all this .... I / you can come up with odds )

hence my original question .... I feel I will be well versed in the issue of non blue badge holders but reg disabled persons parking in designated bays ...... I was more for reading up on any matters concerning the 'moral' issue of some help for those with temp disability. ........

Ralph:cool: