Can we use disabled parking for removal van?

Didyousaysomething

We are moving soon and getting increasingly concerned we won't have space for the removal van to park outside our house. We have 2 disabled parking spaces right outside our house that were apparently put in for the elderly people who lived here years ago. They are certainly now only used for drop offs etc for the school across the road. We live in a busy area of London where parking is a bit of a free-for-all and using these disabled spaces (plus 1 or 2 either side) is probably our only option. I wondered if
a) we can put wheelie bins out on them like people suggest elsewhere for non-disabled parking
b) what people's experience has been of securing parking in this type of environment. Certainly suggestions I have read of asking neighbours politely to keep space free would probably not go down well, and most of the cars on the street belong to people who don't live here anyway!
Any suggestions gratefully received!

marliepanda

Not sure what the wheelie bin would achieve? If I needed to park somewhere and there was a wheelie bin, I'd just wheel the bin off it...

p00hsticks

It was a long time ago, but I think that when my OP moved out of his previous property he got a special one day dispensation from the local council to allow the removal van to park on the yellow lines outside the house, and I think he might have even picked up some cones from the council offices to mark out the position.

It might be worth you looking at your local council's web site to see what they say (search for "parking dispensation" or "parking bay suspension" ) - here's what Bromley council have to say on the subject

http://www.bromley.gov.uk/info/200072/parking/337/parking_dispensationssuspensions

marksoton

You need to get the parking bays suspended in most London boroughs regardless of their disabled status.

You need to give the council notice and pay a fee. A few days before they'll attach a notice warning motorists of the date this will happen.

Enforcement varies from borough to borough. Some will lift and shift whereas others will just slap a ticket on the windscreen. Expensive for the owner but no good if you need the vehicle gone!

Bane of my bloody life,for 5 years i could have anything up to 50 suspensions in place at any given time!

System

London may be different but if there are no post and signs, apart from the road markings, then they are not enforceable as disabled only bays.

From Lewisham Council site

Formal (statutory) bays

This bay is legally enforceable and in addition to the marking on the carriageway includes a post and sign. It requires the making of a traffic order and therefore involves significant administration and much greater cost to install.
Informal disabled bays

This has no legal force but comprises a 'disabled' marking on the carriageway. It acts as a reminder to neighbours and visitors to respect the needs of the disabled resident.
However, since these bays are unenforceable they cannot be used in a controlled parking zone, because it is likely that they would be regarded as free space.

theartfullodger

The legality of enforceability of parking in a disabled bay without a valid, held by driver or passenger, "blue-badge" is one thing.

The morality is clearer and bleedin' obvious: Don't!

- What do you expect someone with a blue-badge wanting to park there to do?? Block the road, stop their car, get the wheelchair out then go up & down the neighbouring roads to ask, politely, of the van driver is he actually disabled as if he isn't could he kindly see his way to moving his vehicle....
- What goes around comes around: There is a common view that those who knowingly park in a disabled bay when not entitled to become.. disabled...

Parking without valid reason (legally &/or morally) in a disabled bay is not consistent with our British traditions of decency & fair play.

Others may hold alternative views..

princeofpounds

As stated, you need to apply for parking suspension.


You will probably never get the disabled bays removed, they will be something of a sacred cow (and maybe, given they are opposite a school, they could have a renewed purpose at any point)

theGrinch

marliepanda wrote: »

Not sure what the wheelie bin would achieve? If I needed to park somewhere and there was a wheelie bin, I'd just wheel the bin off it...

what about adjacent a dropped kerb?

System

theartfullodger wrote: »

The legality of enforceability of parking in a disabled bay without a valid, held by driver or passenger, "blue-badge" is one thing.

The morality is clearer and bleedin' obvious: Don't!

- What do you expect someone with a blue-badge wanting to park there to do?? Block the road, stop their car, get the wheelchair out then go up & down the neighbouring roads to ask, politely, of the van driver is he actually disabled as if he isn't could he kindly see his way to moving his vehicle....
- What goes around comes around: There is a common view that those who knowingly park in a disabled bay when not entitled to become.. disabled...

Parking without valid reason (legally &/or morally) in a disabled bay is not consistent with our British traditions of decency & fair play.

Others may hold alternative views..

Unfortunately legality and somebody's perceived view of morality are quite often divergent. A view could also be taken that a disabled person shouldn't use the bay because there may be somebody else more disabled and therefore with a greater moral right who m8ght want to park there

agrinnall

It won't help with your move in but after you've completed it and settled in I would consider asking the council to rescind the disabled spaces on the basis that the people they were first put in place for no longer live there. At one place I used to park there was a doctor space outside what used to be a medical practice but hadn't been for some years, yet the space was effectively unusable simply because nobody had bothered to get it's status changed.

wwl

Are there signs in addition to the road markings ? If not they aren't enforceable.