Grrr - blue badge

Pssst wrote: »

AFAIK supermarket type disabled bays are not legally enforceable. Ifi were givewn a ticket in somewhere like ASDA,I would tell them to shove it,it wouldnt get paid,and id take my custom to Tescos. Come to think of it,if they are for disabled people then surely it is for the individual to decide if they are disabled? You could easily consider that you have a disability but not be in possession of a blue badge.

No, there's usually a sign somewhere that says 'Blue Badge Holders Only'.

Also, I thought supermarkets in certain circumstances towed cars not displaying blue badges, not ticketted them.

Why don’t you get a blue badge for the days when need easy access? If you don’t have a blue badge and park in a disabled bay, you run the risk of being towed or ticketed.

I think it goes without saying that ‘Blue Badge Holders Only’, mean legitimate ones! It’s down to the supermarket to police its disabled bays, not joe public.

Let’s not forget that it’s an extreme minority that abuse the blue badge system.

pazza wrote: »

Let’s not forget that it’s an extreme minority that abuse the blue badge system.

I am not so sure that is true. If the press is to be believed, there is a huge market in stolen and forged Blue Badges and these will be being used illegitimately every day. And that is forgetting the oeople who just "leave the car" in a Blue Badge bay while "I slip to the cash machine" "get a paper" or whatever.

nanokitten wrote: »

I have to say parent and child spaces annoy me as they eat in to spaces where you used to put disabled ones.

They have clearly been invented to protect the supermarket from the small theoretical risk of litigation if a child was run over rather than by working out how easy it is for folks to cover the distance.

same here what did we do b 4 child parking areas,,if no disabled paking space avaliable i just use tht parent and child parking bay and put up my blue badge,, so far no 1 has said anything yet but waiting on it

I have a blue badge - have had one since 1973 when I wrecked my spine in an accident, so as you can imagine I have had my share of funny looks over the years . I still get them now as I'm told I look young for my years :rotfl:.

What really got me though was when I was at university, I went through the proper channels to get a named disabled parking space, close to the doors with a movable metal sign with my name on it. I manage most of the time on crutches because I find it difficult being in my wheelchair for long periods since I need to change position a lot.

Any disabled student could apply for one of these named spaces, but the amount of times I arrived to find that my space had been taken was ridiculous. This included blue badge holders and those without - including lecturers who should damned well know better:mad:.

Before anyone says I should have got there earlier, I always made a point of being at least half an hour early to park and get myself sorted before lectures . The trouble was that there weren't that many actual spaces - never mind disabled ones, so if I couldn't park near enough I had to basically go home which I was loathe to do.

There was this one particular miscreant, albeit in a wheelchair who would determinedly nab my space, despite me pointing out politely that it had my name on it and - that he could easily get his own named space if he just applied. He just blanked me completely, speeding off into the distance in his racing wheelchair.

Thankfully after unheeded verbal and written warnings by the university - they clamped him .

There is an upside to this story though - another blue badge user who took my space came back to find a note I'd left on his windscreen politely asking him not to park there. He got in touch by e-mail to apologise and to find out how to get a named space. We became firm friends and worked out between us - and the university, times when our lectures didn't clash so either one of us could use the same space - thus saving spaces for other students.

All it took was politeness and a bit of common sense (sadly lacking in the first student) - but there is so much rudeness, especially from these elderly vigilantes that it is no wonder they are met with equal measures of hostility in return.

So in reply to the OP - I don't think age is an excuse, there are a lot of people older than me who are a heck of a lot fitter and I have to laugh when I see the ones carrying walking sticks (not using them) as if they are some sort of fashion accessory :rotfl:. Blue Badges are there for a reason, they are the only way that someone policing supermarket bays knows the person using the bay is disabled, these guys aren't psychic :rolleyes:. To those who are too lazy (or too much of a skinflint to fork out the £5 or whatever it is now) - or frankly know they aren't disabled enough to qualify the answer is clear - park elsewhere or pay the fine. The sooner these fines are enforceable the better.