Blue Badge parking charges

poppy12345

CosmoChic said:

poppy12345 said:

CosmoChic said:

RobinHill said:

Spoonie_Turtle: Well explained, thank you. The comment from Nannytone et al just demonstrates astonishing ignorance.

:  is paying for parking fees not an expected/appropriate way in which to use the mobility payment we receive?  

No because if you have a mobility vehicle then most vehicles use all of your mobility award which is paid striaght to motability. There are some cars that don't use all of the award but not many.

Well, then what about the Daily Living element?  Surely paying parking fees is part of daily life? 

There are other more important extra expenses that i have because of my disability, which is probably the same for some other people. Parking where i live is free if you have a BB so i don't need to worry about that.

MalMonroe

gbhxu said:

 just make sure only people with a BB park in the bays.

Trouble is that it's often that the Blue Badge holder stays in the vehicle while their able bodied partner goes shopping, etc.

Trouble also is that sometimes a disabled person may be perceived to be able bodied when they are not. Such as my brother and his wife, she only has one leg and waits in the car whilst he, although having two legs, suffers from other conditions - has to go inside to shop. He cannot stand or walk for more than 45 minutes so has to be really quick with his shopping and that alone is stressful. They are actually both entitled to be blue badge holders.

Judging others and making incorrect assumptions when you do not know their circumstances is just not on. 

MalMonroe

Yep, my sister-in-law is a wheelchair user with only one leg and the main benefit for her and my brother of the blue badge is so that they can park near to where they need to be. It's invaluable for them. 

If any blue badge car parking is free or reduced, then that's a bonus for them but they have never considered free parking to be one of the 'perks' if you can call it that. They're happy to pay their share. And I'm sure that is true of most blue badge holders. It is so difficult to get a blue badge these days that they feel it is a privilege rather than a right. And they are grateful.

My sister-in-law would much rather have two legs than be a blue badge holder.

It's awful to see some people really resenting the fact that blue badge holders sometimes benefit from being disabled. Cut them some slack, please. Most of them would rather not be in that situation at all.  

Spoonie_Turtle

MalMonroe said:

gbhxu said:

 just make sure only people with a BB park in the bays.

Trouble is that it's often that the Blue Badge holder stays in the vehicle while their able bodied partner goes shopping, etc.

Trouble also is that sometimes a disabled person may be perceived to be able bodied when they are not. Such as my brother and his wife, she only has one leg and waits in the car whilst he, although having two legs, suffers from other conditions - has to go inside to shop. He cannot stand or walk for more than 45 minutes so has to be really quick with his shopping and that alone is stressful. They are actually both entitled to be blue badge holders.

Judging others and making incorrect assumptions when you do not know their circumstances is just not on. 

Yes, exactly.  Which is why the only 'judgement' or policing should be, Do they have a Blue Badge?

I've been places where I've only needed to get out to use the toilet, and nondisabled family members spend more time there.  So to a casual observer they might think that we're abusing the space (I mean they probably do anyway, because I don't look disabled and can even help get my wheelchair out of the boot).  We're not though, because I still need to use the space even just for getting to the toilet.  Note: this is usually for somewhere like a supermarket, where all parking is free anyway.  Places that have paid parking I don't tend to go unless I'm actually getting out and going there myself.

[And we don't park in a disabled space if I'm not getting out of the car.]

CosmoChic

I don't begrudge anyone who is eligible a Blue Badge - I should receive one soon myself.  I do object to people with Blue Badges expecting further "perks" i.e. free parking when others have to pay. 

As someone else suggested, I will definitely be paying where it's a chargeable space for anyone else.  I don't think we (as a group) do ourselves any favours by expecting/demanding such "perks" and/or whinging when we're asked to pay just like everyone else who may also have limited incomes.   

The entire idea behind the BB is accessibility not free parking in chargeable spaces.

[Deleted User]

calleyw said:

My ex husband has a blue badge.  Which I use with in the rules.  I don't care about free parking but he needs the space to get out of the car.  Bonus if we don't have to pay for parking.  But not expected.  And if he is not getting out the car we don't park in the space.  if I remember rightly the previous orange badge allowed someone running an errand on behalf of the holder to use the badge to park in a disable space.  Which to me was totally wrong.  if you are not disabled and alone then no need as you can park else where and walk.  Also I have noticed that in some retail areas the disabled spot is nopt always the closest spot to the doors anyway!!!!

Tesco is bad for placing the disabled parking spaces away from the entrance doors... 

Brie

A good friend of my mother's years ago and well before BBs existed campaigned for a change in the laws about parking.  Where we lived parking always had to be paid for in coins fed into meters or machines.  And her motor skills meant that while she could drive she couldn't handle the coins or feed them into the meters.  Unless she could find a helpful stranger almost any trip into town resulted in her getting a parking ticket which she eventually stopped paying and forced the issue into a court of law.  Eventually she won.  That's the reason I think that parking should be free for at least some disabled individuals, although it's easier to managed if it's free for all with a BB.

What boggles me is the number of places where the parent and child parking is closer to the shop and has wider bays than that for BB holders. 

And furthermore that a local supermarket chain allowed a BB holder to be given a parking penalty due to the fact that she needed to use a parent and child spot as there were no BB bays available.  Likewise my OH was confronted by a officious type once when he used a P&C bay as the only place available where MiL could be loaded into her wheelchair to go in the shop.  His response was to point to his mom saying "parent" and himself saying "child".  Fortunately the car park person was sensible enough to let it slide even though it was just a tad outside the rules. (by a few decades....)

Spoonie_Turtle

Brie said:

A good friend of my mother's years ago and well before BBs existed campaigned for a change in the laws about parking.  Where we lived parking always had to be paid for in coins fed into meters or machines.  And her motor skills meant that while she could drive she couldn't handle the coins or feed them into the meters.  Unless she could find a helpful stranger almost any trip into town resulted in her getting a parking ticket which she eventually stopped paying and forced the issue into a court of law.  Eventually she won.  That's the reason I think that parking should be free for at least some disabled individuals, although it's easier to managed if it's free for all with a BB.

This is indeed one of the criteria under which people can qualify for a BB, no doubt thanks to people like her raising the issue.

Type 2: ‘Eligible subject to further assessment’

The ‘eligible subject to further assessment’ criteria

4.26 People who may be issued with a badge after further assessment are those who are more than two years old and may be described as one or more of the following:

• a person who drives a vehicle regularly, has a severe disability in both arms and is unable to operate, or has considerable difficulty in operating, all, or some types of parking meter

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-blue-badge-scheme-local-authority-guidance-england/blue-badge#determining-the-eligibility-of-individual-applicants

Albermarle

Brie said:

A good friend of my mother's years ago and well before BBs existed campaigned for a change in the laws about parking.  Where we lived parking always had to be paid for in coins fed into meters or machines.  And her motor skills meant that while she could drive she couldn't handle the coins or feed them into the meters.  Unless she could find a helpful stranger almost any trip into town resulted in her getting a parking ticket which she eventually stopped paying and forced the issue into a court of law.  Eventually she won.  That's the reason I think that parking should be free for at least some disabled individuals, although it's easier to managed if it's free for all with a BB.

What boggles me is the number of places where the parent and child parking is closer to the shop and has wider bays than that for BB holders. 

And furthermore that a local supermarket chain allowed a BB holder to be given a parking penalty due to the fact that she needed to use a parent and child spot as there were no BB bays available.  Likewise my OH was confronted by a officious type once when he used a P&C bay as the only place available where MiL could be loaded into her wheelchair to go in the shop.  His response was to point to his mom saying "parent" and himself saying "child".  Fortunately the car park person was sensible enough to let it slide even though it was just a tad outside the rules. (by a few decades....)

In all my 25 years  parking in supermarket car parks ( with a blue badge for a disabled family member ) I have never ever seen, a parking attendant /member of staff checking who was parking in the disabled or P&C bays .
This is a source of frustration as the use disabled spaces / BB is heavily abused in some of these supermarket car parks , and elsewhere of course .
So I am a bit surprised to read about the two incidents above. 

[Deleted User]

Albermarle said:

Brie said:

A good friend of my mother's years ago and well before BBs existed campaigned for a change in the laws about parking.  Where we lived parking always had to be paid for in coins fed into meters or machines.  And her motor skills meant that while she could drive she couldn't handle the coins or feed them into the meters.  Unless she could find a helpful stranger almost any trip into town resulted in her getting a parking ticket which she eventually stopped paying and forced the issue into a court of law.  Eventually she won.  That's the reason I think that parking should be free for at least some disabled individuals, although it's easier to managed if it's free for all with a BB.

What boggles me is the number of places where the parent and child parking is closer to the shop and has wider bays than that for BB holders. 

And furthermore that a local supermarket chain allowed a BB holder to be given a parking penalty due to the fact that she needed to use a parent and child spot as there were no BB bays available.  Likewise my OH was confronted by a officious type once when he used a P&C bay as the only place available where MiL could be loaded into her wheelchair to go in the shop.  His response was to point to his mom saying "parent" and himself saying "child".  Fortunately the car park person was sensible enough to let it slide even though it was just a tad outside the rules. (by a few decades....)

In all my 25 years  parking in supermarket car parks ( with a blue badge for a disabled family member ) I have never ever seen, a parking attendant /member of staff checking who was parking in the disabled or P&C bays .
This is a source of frustration as the use disabled spaces / BB is heavily abused in some of these supermarket car parks , and elsewhere of course .
So I am a bit surprised to read about the two incidents above. 

Under 1000 people have been prosecuted since 2015 for misusing a blue badge - I am sure that this figure could easily be extended 10 fold for true misuse ?

As of 2016, the Department for Transport found that 61 out of 152 authorities did not have a policy about prosecuting drivers fraudulently using Blue Badges