It’s odd that generally good people would think nothing of parking in a disabled bay marked for blue badge users, but I have seen it happen too often.
Over the years, I have noticed a massive decline in respect for disabled people. More and more people are abusing disability faculties. From toilets to priority seats to the disabled parking spaces that, in theory, you need a blue badge to use.
This has become an alarmingly regular event.
There are several spaces, probably 10-15 at a local supermarket and many of the disabled parking spaces were gone. Only two or three people displayed a blue badge.
There have been many queries as to why we need those spaces because many people find them “empty” or the person in the bay is not what they think a disabled person ought to look like.
Why are there so many disabled parking bays?
One of the complaints many able-bodied drivers have is the amount of disabled parking bays in supermarket car parks. Big car parks may have 20 or more. But here is my theory as to why there is “so many” bays.
Whenever I go shopping, I am lucky if I find a free disabled parking space.
As I walk past, I check the cars. Probably 3/5 cars do not have, or display, a blue badge. Roughly 3/5 bays are being abused by people without a blue badge.
So, maybe that is why there are so many disabled parking spaces. The supermarkets are trying to estimate how many people are going to abuse the space.
Wheelchair users especially will find abuse of these spaces annoying and inconvenient as the extra space makes it easier for them to get in and out of a car. The chevrons are measured so that someone who needs more room can have more room without hitting a car… after all, normal spaces are so closely-knitted together.
Why do people abuse disabled parking spaces
It all boils down to not meeting the expectations of the abuser’s idea of disabled. When most people think of disabled, they think of a wheelchair or an elderly person. They do not think of someone who can only move short distances but can indeed walk. So when I come to use a disabled parking space, I will get a wag of the finger from a nosy old couple.
To that couple, I am too young. Or my legs seem to be working.
I’ve been asked why I don’t just use normal bays, because I’m not in a wheelchair. So I won’t need the extra space. But that’s not true. My right leg gets stuck when I am in normal bays, and as it will be my right leg first, I am probably going to bang my door on the neighbouring car door. Yep, no I don’t want to risk that. We live in a culture that judges a book by the cover.
These people see what they think are capable people using a space close to the store while they have to park at the back, or in another car park entirely. So they feel annoyed, don’t think it’s fare and decide that they will use the space themselves. Then they complain there is too many spaces for disabled people.
There are also the people who think to themselves, “well, I’ll only be five minutes”. An hour later and someone who needed the disabled parking space is waiting for them to move.
I don’t think many people are aware of how many people are actually disabled. For information about applying for a Blue Badge click here and for information about who is eligible for a Blue Badge click here.
Problem with the law and disabled parking bays
Here’s the problem we have in the UK.
As the law stands, if you park in a private car park, such as Aldi, Sainsbury’s or most shopping centres, then even if the owners of the car park give you a fine you DO NOT have to pay. No one can force you unless ordered at a court. And really, private car park owners have more to do than to take someone to court. They don’t want the hassle.
This gives the owners no motivation to give a fine to the people abusing the spaces. I was having a conversation with a security guard and one of the managers in Aldi’s and they say people just ignore it and they do not have time to give everyone tickets, which is fair enough, especially when they can just be chucked in the bin.
People are aware of this and as a result, do not fear to abuse the system.
This goes for private parking at residential properties too. I live in an apartment block, and more often than not, I return to my home to find one person in particular in the disabled space without a blue badge. It’s annoying and something needs to change.
Council-owned roads and car parks
People don’t park on yellow lines or without paying on public streets if they know it is heavily monitored by traffic officers. They won’t park in disabled bays. And hey don’t risk it in a council car park. This is because they will have to pay the fine by law.
Why is it different for private parking? Why? They’re abusing the same rules, the only difference is the organisation that manages it.
Yes, it means that if the car park is full, the person without a blue badge would have to walk further to their destination, but if you were in a wheelchair, if you could only walk short distances or if it was a family member, how would you feel if someone took a space that you or a loved-one needs because they were too lazy to walk a few hundred more yards?
Those of us who have a blue badge did not ask to be disabled. We just are and that means we need the extra help. Able-bodied people are blessed to have legs they need to walk those extra steps.
Edit 20/07/2018: Until I went through PIP, having Cerebral Palsy meant that I was automatically eligible for a disabled parking permit known as the Blue Badge. This may be taken off me if I can not win my appeal once it expires. Find out more about PIP here.
Edit: I lost the appeal but won my tribunal in 2019.
Thanks for reading
Thank you for reading this post. What, if anything, annoys you about disabled bays and people’s attitude to them? What do you think could and should be done about it?
Do let me know in the comments.
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It really makes me cross to see these spaces being so abused – I think that if a car without a valid blue badge parks in these spaces then they should be fined, and that fine should be enforceable. The alternative is that the car gets clamped promptly and there’s a release fee.
A friend of my mother in-laws started naming and shaming cars with licence plate numbers on her Facebook page prior to lockdown, as so often she’d get to the train station to find a space she needed taken up by someone without a blue badge.
It makes me cross too. They only do it because they know there’s no consequence. If, on the off chance, they get a fine at a supermarket, they can throw it in the bin because it’s a private lot and fines are not enforceable without going to court. Sainsbury’s or Iceland or shopping centres have no time for any of that rubbish
So they just don’t give fines and I don’t blame them. But legally, the same private lands have to have bays for disabled. If they make it a legal requirement then the fine should also be automatically enforced.
I was at Morrison’s ahead of a friend once and I knew she’d need the disabled bay. A taxi driver was in it… no. He was ACROSS it. I asked him to move.
“I’ll be here for a moment, just picking up”
Me: it doesn’t matter, you’re not meant to use these spaces unless your passenger has gave you a blue badge.
Him: I’ll be gone in a moment. 5 minutes on, we’re still arguing, friend has arrived, his passenger has not. Passenger doesn’t come for another 2 minutes and he didn’t move an inch.
What a jerk, he should have had his licence number and plate recorded and sent to the council, who deal with issuing and revoking taxi licences >< If there had been time, I would have gone inside and fetched security, but I am guessing he left eventually.
He did, yeah, with his passenger. There’s a drop off and pick up area but it was full with other taxis and is right next to the disabled bays so he clearly decided that because the drop off was full he was entitled to park across a disabled bay.
I completely agree it should be a legal requirement for both private and government owned car parks to enforce.
As an aside I did witness some poetic justice some years ago where a lady was driving through the uni campus quite aggressively, parking of course in the disabled bay, no blue badge. A couple of hours later I walked by again, the car was still in the parking spot but with a clamp on. At work the release fee is £80. ^_^
Glad the woman got clamped!
I got my blue badge last week, I keep it in my glove compartment and put it on the dashboard when I park. Second time I used it as I was parking in a slot I got the most foul abuse , opened my door to tell him I had a badge and he banged the door shut on me and swore that I should display it. Ruined my day, still fuming this evening. All these people have to do is wait for the person to park and get out the car and can see if the person is disabled and if they have put a disabled badge on their dashboard, but no they look at the person decide if they can abuse them without a punch in the mouth and then proceed.
So it works both way, it’s not just people abusing blue parking there is an increasing amount of abuse against valid disabled badge holders.
oh absolutely. I’ve been wagged at by old ladies who assume that I cannot possibly be disabled because I’m neither old, nor in a wheelchair.