Blue Badge parking charges

elsien

Deleted_User said:

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

Parking in a blue badge space on a private car park such as at a supermarket is inconsiderate but is not a prosecutable offence.

Any prosecutions are far more likely to be people who’ve obtained the badges fraudulently, eg by theft, or who haven’t handed it back when they should have done. 

Prosecutions are to tackle misuse of the badge by the people using them, not people parking in spaces where they are asked not to. Parking penalties are different and are open to challenge, as a quick scoot of the parking forum on here will evidence. 

Cyclamen

I cant find a source but was told that free parking for BB is sometimes to do with if the pay machines are accessible.. they can sometimes be up a curb, hard to reach, too fiddly for some disabilities etc.. so it was cheaper to give free parking than adapt all the machines.. with the number plate pay systems now i assume that is no longer the case.

Thankfully we have free parking in my local town and county but over the border the cost of parking in town centre is way more than a train ticket.  If able i would choose train ticket and/or park and ride but that isn't an option. So we end up in the most expensive car park as it is most accessible and central.. although to my surprise an ambulance cant fit through the barriers ..i found this out the hard way. 

BB free parking is a gift but when it takes us a lot longer, or we cant walk in to town like our neighbours might, or may need to use two or three carparks to get to the shops we need it could get very expensive buying a ticket in each as walking/wheeling across towns isn't always an option so its a welcome gift.    

Whilst I agree able bodied shouldn't use BB to park in disabled bays if BB owner isnt getting in/out.. it would be nice if people who feel the need to challenge if badge belongs to person getting out understood that the driver may have parked there to pick up the badge owner and ask politely. My carer has been shouted at a few times in car parks rather than asked.  Even in the few mins it takes to pop in to borrow a wheelchair from B&Q or garden centre when i have been sat in car, not taking my wheels means boot space.   

My carers are all happy to say the badge is for me and if the person wants to check they can come say hi or wait to see me come back.  I am happy to show badge photo as horrid as it is to anyone who wants to check.  But sometimescarers /able bodies need to park in the disabled bay to come and collect me so there is space to help me back into car and load wheelchair etc.. so those able bodies leaping out may a) have hidden disability or b) be collecting someone who needs the space to get back into car. 

sheeps68

I live on the border between 2 different authorities that have different rules. I find that to be the biggest pain and confusion. One authority I can park in a residents parking bay the other I cannot. One has free blue badge parking regardless of which space you have, the other it's only free if parked in disabled bay. I go along the road further into a third authority and you pay in all spaces. To be honest I don't object to any option but I do strongly object to it being a guessing game with no clear information about local rules without calling local council. There is no a clue in my experience if you are parking on a metered bay so total guessing game or do your research in advance and hope they don't change rules between research sessions. So I would make a plea to all local councils to just make it clear what we have to do if they can't come to a universal approach.

poppy811

I have a blue badge and recently parked in a disabled space.  A woman said to me “ you don ‘ t need that badge.  My response was “ how does incurable cancer grab you? “  Her husband moved her away smartish.  

Scotch_Bonnet_

Brie said:

 

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....)

Actually, you can park in the those spaces with a blue badge.
This disabled parking crisis is felt throughout the UK, with 38 Blue Badge holders fighting for a space, on average. Since supermarket car parks are private property, local councils can’t enforce parking rules there. So, if a Blue Badge holder parks in a parent and child space, it’s not illegal.

unforeseen

Since supermarket car parks are private property, local councils can’t enforce parking rules there. So, if a Blue Badge holder parks in a parent and child space, it’s not illegal.

And if a non blue badge holder parks in a blue badge space that is not illegal either. 

Murphybear

poppy811 said:

I have a blue badge and recently parked in a disabled space.  A woman said to me “ you don ‘ t need that badge.  My response was “ how does incurable cancer grab you? “  Her husband moved her away smartish.  

People can be so judgemental.  On the door of the disabled toilet in our local Waitrose there is a sign “Not all disabilities are visible”.  

Fruitcake

unforeseen said:

Since supermarket car parks are private property, local councils can’t enforce parking rules there. So, if a Blue Badge holder parks in a parent and child space, it’s not illegal.

And if a non blue badge holder parks in a blue badge space that is not illegal either. 

Nor is it unlawful (civil/contract law as opposed to criminal law) but unregulated private parking companies refuse to acknowledge anything other than a blue badge even though the BB scheme does not apply on private land, but the Equality Act 2010 does.

turnitround

Slightly different issue re disabled spaces but  Ive always been curious about this.

When you see a space on a road by a row of houses which is marked 'Disabled' is that exclusively for the owner of the house the markings are outside?

elsien

turnitround said:

Slightly different issue re disabled spaces but  Ive always been curious about this.

When you see a space on a road by a row of houses which is marked 'Disabled' is that exclusively for the owner of the house the markings are outside?

No; it’s been put there because a home owner (who may or may not still live there) requested it, but it’s for anyone with a blue badge.