Recieved ticket for parking in disabled bay without owning a blue badge

amalething03

Today I entered my local Sainsburys car park, managed by Horizon. Two kids in the back, no child bays available, so I parked in a disabled bay.

I was swiftly notified by a Horizon attendant to move my car. So far so good.

If a non-disabled motorist has parked in a bay reserved for people with disabilities in a private car park, for example a supermarket, an employee of the store can ask the driver to move their car from the reserved space - but they cannot legally insist on it. - NIDirect.gov

I advised him I will not be moving, and continued into the store. I informed the store manager who swiftly removed the ticket from my car, stating they will not be charging me. (I asked for a photocopy of ticket and store managers signature)

But I intent to take the matter further to ensure customers are not penalised in the future.

I want to make it clear, I don't usually park in disabled bays, but where no child spaces are available, I believe I'm on the right side of the law to park in a privately own disabled marked bay. (especially as they have in excess of 20 empty disabled bays!)

The Blue Badge Scheme does not apply to off-street car parks, for example supermarket car parks"..."Enforcement of parking bays for people with disabilities is therefore a matter for the individual owner or operator of the car park. - NIDirect.gov

The signage states one must display a Blue Badge to park in the marked bays. So what is the law on private car parks regarding disabled bays?

enfield_freddy

horizons monkeys do not get a wage packet from Sainsbury,s


ie: the monkey was not an employee of the supermarket




half of that garbage from NIDirect.gov looks good , but is not applicable in a real world

The_Deep

... especially as they have in excess of 20 empty disabled bays!)


Are they overproviding BB spaces to catch people do you think?

Nodding_Donkey

I don't often say this OP but I think you should just pay it.

The_Slithy_Tove

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

I don't often say this OP but I think you should just pay it.

+1.

Such an arrogant attitude deserves some kind of sanction. Those with genuine disabilities need the provision of disabled spaces. Those with children do not need parent and child spaces. Yes, they make it more convenient, but they are certainly not a necessity.

martinthebandit

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

+1.

Such an arrogant attitude deserves some kind of sanction. Those with genuine disabilities need the provision of disabled spaces. Those with children do not need parent and child spaces. Yes, they make it more convenient, but they are certainly not a necessity.

I agree

........

PasturesNew

I think you should pay it. I think you were wrong to make assumptions about where you can park because you have children - there were probably plenty of other parking spaces with room alongside to offload your kids - and the walk (30 yards?) wouldn't have hurt.

Being asked to move and telling the little man "no", then striding purposefully into the store was just doubly wrong.

Just pay it....

The_Deep

I do not think that he should pay it. Before I got by BB I used to be infuriated by the over-provision of BB spaces by my local council, and they were financially worse off by so doing.


In this case, by overproviding BB spaces, PPCs not only make it difficult for others, but they can profit from it.

Guys_Dad

amalething03 wrote: »

But I intent to take the matter further to ensure customers are not penalised in the future.

I want to make it clear, I don't usually park in disabled bays, but where no child spaces are available, I believe I'm on the right side of the law to park in a privately own disabled marked bay. (especially as they have in excess of 20 empty disabled bays!)

Whilst agreeing with the previous comments - from regular anti-PPC MSE members by the way - I would just suggest that you try parking in an on-street disabled BB bay to test whether the law would support you. In fact - the law has nothing to do with private car parks and you are lucky that the supermarket didn't throw you out.

I am afraid that your arrogant attitude has antagonised regular contributors and you will get little assistance on your thread. Your best bet is the NEWBIES thread and other contemporary threads.

The_Deep

I am inclined to support the OP here.


It seems to me that the PPC is overproviding BB spaces to boost its profits.

Guys_Dad

The_Deep wrote: »

I am inclined to support the OP here.


It seems to me that the PPC is overproviding BB spaces to boost its profits.

The OP did not say that there were no normal spaces available. I, too, often think there is an over provision of disabled parking spaces in some car parks, but when asked by the Horizon warden to move (rather than simply waiting till OP went into the store and then ticketing them) to have an "I know my rights and b****r off style reply" just gets up people's noses.

I managed to extract all of my sons from my cars in times gone by when there were no parents and toddlers spaces so can't see why others can't as well.