Good post lexi.

It's amazing that people who don't know a person can so readily judge them.

I had to smile yesterday when I read a comment on here - apparently, because I can do things I'm less able rather than disabled!

Of course, I could have got into an argument over the post but what's the point? There will always be some people who don't know you but quick to sit in judgement.

You know your illness and have no need to justify anything so ignore them as much as you can, for the opinions of strangers mean nothing

We get judged everytime we use our BB. My son is 5 and has a blue badge due to his autism, i had one old man waving his stick at me hurling abuse, that i shouldnt park in a disabled spot. I had been having a very bad day with my son and just wanted to get food and go. He carried on yelling at me with my 2 children, my son was getting very distressed at this stranger following us and shouted. In the end I turned to him and told him "my son would have to live with this disability for the rest of his life, and this man had one cause he was old, told him not to worry he wouldnt need it for much longer!!!!!" put the kids back in the car burst into tears and drove home! The only time we dont get rude stares are when his disability pushchair comes out the boot!!!

I find some elderly people are intolerant to young disabled people, they forget you can get a disability at any age. Many are lucky to have gone through life without any disability.

If you have a blue badge you entitled to use it as long as it is for that person who needs it and is either driving or nominated driver as long as they are there with you

You shouldn't have to justify to anyone who ask unless its a traffic warden for example as long as you show it

I have no issues with anyone being challenged though for not displaying it, the sooner we get rid of those who abuse the system the better, and I am not sympathetic to lazy bums who cant be bothered to walk a few yards, I am glad they get fined

I know of someone who was quite badly injured in an accident and was in a wheelchair. She was taken by a friend to Asda and they parked in a disabled space.

When they returned to the car less than an hour later they had been ticketed. they got a £40 fine. She paid the fine as she knew she was in the wrong. I had told her to get a blue badge and she said she could not be bothered.

They saw the warden and spoke to him but he would not back down even though she was in a wheelchair. So, yes, people can get fined for parking in a disabled bay.

Personally I believe people should have respect for disabled people, I have taken a relative out and she has a blue badge as she is disabled and in a wheelchair.

If is infuriating not to be able to park yet see people without badges thinking its OK to park in one as they are only getting a few things, so will only be 20 mins.

Blue badges are easily obtained and free so no one has any excuse for not getting one if they are genuinely disabled.

My neighbour is 90 and got a blue badge for the rare occasions her family take her out.

I think all stores should fine people who do not have a badge, no matter what their excuse.


For all those people who think it is acceptable to block a disabled bay, I hope you are never in the position to really need one.

I have to disagree with you there.... Blue badges are not necessarily easily obtained, the DLA system SUCKS, and in many areas the council will ONLY give you a BB if you have got HRM DLA, (unless you're over 65, then you can have one if you've got a little slower over the years....) this can take numerous appeals etc to get, whilst being very poorly, it's not easy! I was without a blue badge for a year whilst being in a wheelchair, I only got one a couple of months ago after the DWP admitted defeat and gave me what I'm entitled to. Throughout that time we NEVER parked in a disabled bay, and there were places I couldn't even go because of that- couldn't get the wheelchair and me, out safely in normal size spaces. People seem to think that if you need a BB you'll get one, no problem, but it's just not the case, I'd GLADLY give it up to be able to walk more than a few metres before being in pain, and without collapsing.

I would like to know which council this is?. If as you say, they only give them to people receiving HRM DLA then they are discriminating against those who would also fall into the 'automatic issue' category (ie those who receive War Pensioners Mobility Supplement -WPMS- or those registered blind).

Although badges issued under the 'assessed criteria' are a debatable point, the councils DO have to issue them to those who receive WPMS and the registered blind automatically.

Tally

She could not have been 'fined' by ASDA or their warden. What she would have been issued with is basically an invoice which is not enforceable. Hence although they may huff and puff and send a few snotty letters the person was not obliged to pay anything.

As the law currently stands, only the Police, Council Civil Enforcement Officers and certain contractors to Network Rail (under the railway bye-laws on railway property) can issue enforcible tickets. They cannot be issued on private property or by parking control companies. As people know about this, disabled spaces at supermarkets/ shopping centres etc get more and more abused because basically they cannot be enforced.

It needs a change in legislation to allow enforcible tickets to be issued on private car parks such as supermarkets, shopping centres etc - so get onto your MP to get the law changed (the Scottish Parliament are apparently looking to introduce the necessary legislation but it really needs to be national legislation).

The actual Blue Badge legislation would also need to be amended as currently Blue Badges only apply on a public road. not on car parks or private roads (see the booklet sent out with Blue Badges).

Until the changes are made in the relevant legislation, we disabled people will only suffer further abuse of disabled parking spaces at supermarkets/shopping centres/hospitals etc.

Shropshire County council, they also "keep applications on file" so that you can't actually appeal... I should've said, those who automatically qualify, I assume, and those over 65, get them, I don't know though. They've been taken to court by a couple of people, and found to be in the wrong, there is one man who appears to be the only one that writes letters, makes decisions, who seems to make his own rules...

I remember I went to Groombridge Place in Kent a couple of years ago for one of their events and when I tried to get to what used to be the disabled parking I found cones across the road, so had to park in a normal space a LONG (about 10 minutes walk for me!) way away from the entrance. When I got there I asked them and they said that next time I should just move the cones!?!? I pointed out that if I was having a bad day and was in my wheelchair (I can just about get around on crutches the rest of the time) I would have had to struggle out of the car, struggle to get the wheelchair out, move the cones, struggle to get the wheelchair back into the car and then struggle to me back in, but then I would have to drive past the cones and do the same to put them back! To make things worse I could see from where I was standing that the disabled spaces were all used anyway by non disabled people from the event. I asked them what I was supposed to do and they said its ok, we have a disabled drop off space right outside where you can drop off the disabled person and then park the car in the normal car park. I pointed out that I was the disabled person and also the driver and they just looked at me as if their brains could not work it out! lol I tried emailing them when I got home and I got a reply mentioning the drop off point again, totally ignoring the things I had already said, so I replied explaining they had missed the point, what a suprise, they never replied! 8o(

My OH originally got a blue badge issued as he was going through chemotherapy. He now has it for various ther health issues. Our local council apparently issue them to all cancer patients.

Some of the earlier posts on this thread have given me a right laugh tonight. A few years ago whilst I was literally 9 months pregnant I went to Tesco. It must have been about 9pm. At the time due to my large bump i struggled to get in and out the car. So seeing that the car park was almost empty I parked in a parent & child (technically I was carrying child). This was so i could open the door as wide as possible. The abuse that I got from an elderly man almost had me in tears.

That's dreadfull, I have used a parent and child space when heavily pregnant too but never had any problems with people complaining.

These people unfortunatly will always be about.

I was lucky that at least getting my badge was very easy.

This is something that really gets on mine and my hubbys nerves.

Where ever we go, morrisons, asda and other places which have disabled parking spaces which are taken up by cars without blue badges in them or even worse the driver just sat there in the car when they surely could park somewhere else and let someone else use the space who actually needs it. A few weeks ago we saw a taxi driver sat in a space displaying a blue badge and again the following week we saw another one in morrisons with a badge sat there with his window wound down and a cup of coffee on his dash board and not a take away coffee but a proper cup which must've been from home.

Ooh another annoying this is that old people automatically think that they have the god given right to park in the spaces without badges cos they're old.

Some people obviously abuse the scheme as you see a lot of people using them and obviously borrowed them off other people.

I think that there should be checks in car parking places and if a car hasn't displayed a badge then they should be clamped and given some kind of penalty.

Some people just cant be bothered to walk ie to the pub for instance and just park in the disabled space and I'm sure if they in the future experience the full extent of how a disability affects a person or their carer then hopefully they'd be more respectful.

Have you considered the fact, that the taxi may have taken a disabled person (with a blue badge) shopping and is waiting for the disabled person to return to the car?. I often do this if I cannot drive myself, or find someone to drive me for some reason. The taxi driver parks in a disabled space, uses my blue badge and waits for me to return to the car. Perfectly legally - so what if the driver has a drink of coffee whilst waiting for me - I am not bothered about that in one bit, as long as the car is where I departed from it when I emerge from the shop either in the wheelchair or on my crutches.

Tally

I was thinking that too Tally-Ho, the driver of a car has nothing to do with it, it's the disabled person who counts. Although it must cost a fortune for you to pay a taxi driver to wait for you while you do your shopping, have you thought about doing it online and getting it delivered?

Hi,

Yes, I do normally shop at tesco on line, but if I only need a couple of things it works out okay using the taxi to Morrisons (which is closer, but they do not deliver anyway). I tend to always use the same 'one man company' taxi and providing I do not cross his busy times (such as school leaving time where he has a contract, or theatre leaving times etc) then he only charges me a couple of quid to wait upto about 15 to 20 minutes which isn't bad at all. I am pretty flexible with him as to when I go to Morrisons so it works both ways.

I suppose I could get him to drop me off and then ring for him when I have finished, but I could end up waiting around - so much easier just to pay him a bit extra
to wait.

Tally

Wow, a considerate helpful taxi driver, I didn't know such a thing existed!

One taxi driver was sat there well over an hour and the other one we saw there was only a post office there and my husband had been in and come out and he was sat there just reading his paper.

We went to hospital today as my hubby had an appointment at hydrotherapy and guess what we couldn't get parked as 3/4's of the disabled bays were taken up by none disabled people. My hubby had to leave his therapy early as it had taken too much out of him and he had to struggle to the car and 2 of the bays were now empty but as we were getting into the car another person went to ticket machine to pay for a ticket and just was not bothered about taking a bay up which are very much needed for people who do have blue badges and very much need them.

I'd never dream of lining a taxi's pockets with money that was very much needed by us by using them to go shopping as it is hard enough to get around a shop with my hubby in his wheel chair as people just dawdle around and stop in the middle of the aisles to start talking. Even worse is that you wait ages in the queue as no disabled check outs.

If my hubby uses a shop chair then I have to lift him out and get him onto his crutches and then push the trolly whilst he hobbles next to me and walking a long way makes him in such immense pain and if hes in his own chair that can also be annoying as I have to put my trolley away, carry all the bags and sometimes try and push him if hes very tired then walk to where ever the car is parked and then pack it all away.

I can see both sides of the argument but it not only affects the disabled person but also the carer who is with them who has to struggle to juggle a lot of things at once and making sure they are safe whilst getting to and from the car.

Cutesmile,

Not everyone has a carer to go shopping with them.

I haven't, hence I pay for a txi to take me shopping, and pay his waiting time whilst I go around the shop in my chair to do my shopping (and it is sometimes well over an hour and like someone posted above the taxi driver uses my blue badge for my convenience). When I wheel out of the shop, I know exactly where my taxi is and go over to it.

Just because you would 'not dream of lining a taxi drivers pockets' does not mean we all do. Some of us do it out of covenience, others necessity or in my case a mixture of both.

DA.

I too don't have a carer. I'm in the middle of getting a PA through direct payments and I asked for enough time to have help going shopping and I was just told to do it online, which is what I do. But my internet costs aren't counted as part of my outgoings in the financial assessment!