18 replies to this topic

[mttb14]

Hi All,

I'm sure this subject has probably been moaned about before, but John had to wait ages before he was awarded a blue badge, because he looks abled bodied, but has a flattened cord on the left side at C5/6, so he is an incomplete SCI. His main complaint is one of pain, spasticity and spasms. He has increased tone and an awkward gait. He is waiting for physio and occupational therapy to sort out a wheelchair he can use as and when necessary, he cannot use crutches or sticks due to problems with spasticity in arms and elbows and pain it causes. When his tendons in his elbows are really tight, so are the ones behind his knees, so it is then when he needs the wheelchair.

When we park in a disabled space we get glared at, and then when we get out of the vehicle we have seen other blue badge users glaring at us, because in their minds we have just had the space they wanted.

Is there any regulations on how many spaces should be provided for blue badge users, because in the very short space of time John has had this badge, it is blatantly obvious to us that there is no where near enough parking spaces. Surely, a council knows how many badges are issued in their area, and should therefore make sure when planning is granted, that there is a fair proportion allocated to blue badge users as part of the conditions before allowing the project to go ahead.

The people who glare the most are OAP's, why do they assume that if you are under 60 or not in a wheelchair, you cannot need to use the blue badge spaces.

Maria

[Lucydog]

Maria

Just DONT DONT get me started on this one......ok you have

I used to work for Bristol city council designing road schemes and as I was with Parking services I also encountered the Blue Badge scheme at its worst. It seems to me that once you are in your 60's with a bit of osteoarthritis its your god given right to have a blue badge. I once had a social worker ring me up because her client needed one becuase his OCD was so bad it took him half an hour to get out the car and another half an hour to get back in his anxiety was so bad. Clearly he needed one but we couldnt oblige as he didnt fulfill the criteria, but a bit of arthritis, you've got free parking for life! One of my favourite things is to sit in Tesco car park and watch all the oaps trot in for their shopping. 20 mins later they all come out laden with bags and jump into the car. Obviously the system is fatally flawed. I am stared at ALL the time, and Im only in my 30s so it must be worse if you are younger. They then glare as I get out the car....which I hate as its hardly dignified and they are still bloody sittning there when I come back and have to go through the whole rigmarole again. RUDE RUDE RUDE.

So Id say just stare back and hold your head high. We know we need it so let them think anything they like.

Cheers
L

[kanga2433]

Oh dear, that's me started too! Yes, it is the same up here in Scotland. Actually some councils have a more firm policy; Highlands requires one cannot walk more than 50 yards. At Tesco in Dumfries, however, the furthest away Blue Badge Space is 50 yards from the shop so if they worked the same in Dumfries that space would not be occupied by the 'over 60 badge for life brigade'! Yet it is; I've watched them!

I have problems at a Sainsbury's store too in Kirkcaldy. Now they have plenty of parking but some of the Blue Badge spaces are normal width without the extra hatched areas either side. Guess where the over 60 badge for life brigade'; yes, you got it, in the wide spaces.

Ok, that's enough rant. Safe to say I am unimpressed with the system. With increased aging of the population I think we need to make badges available only on the basis of the test for Mobility Allowance and medicals done by doctors other that the person's own GP doctors. That would reduce the number a bit.

[In The Wind]

Oh, I quit on the parking spots a long time ago, russ is right, soon as someone gets near 60 they gotta have a parking tag…I’ve gotten to where I just park way out and take 2 spots or park next to something and leave enough room to get my wheelchair in and out…

[Lee]

I think its great. I drive an agressive looking off roader and my daily driver has aggressive tyres on aswell and is usually aslo covered in mud. I have a shaved head and two large tattoos. The looks i get and some people walk over to me because of the way i look and then shy away when i put my badge up and get out of the car using my crutches and walking very badly, lol. Im what you would call, a non stereo typical disabled person if you know what i mean. And i agree with lucydog about the old dears going for the shopping in tescos and come out early running with it.

cheers lee

[russ1]

When I was first injured and still in hostital the OT at my spinal unit filled in my Blus Badge application which was sent in accompanied by National Spinal Injuries Unit headed paperwork supporting the application and signed by my consultant at the unit stating I was permanently paralysed from the chest down.

This is the reply I got.



Wohoo - I'm not really disabled at all and I've got the official paperwork to prove it !!!


Trouble is you get a blue badge these days for just having a slight limp - the other trouble is that in most places where we actually want to park - supermarkets, cinema and the like the disabled designation on the parking bay is advisory only and the blue badge doesn't actually give you anything more than a moral entitlement anyway.

You should see the looks I get when I park in the OAP parking spaces (I just can't bring myself to refer to them as disabled spaces these days) - especially when in shirt and tie and driving large executive sports saloon car !! Yes they did relent and decide I was actually disabled enough

[dom]

hi Maria
another good subject to have a rant about
i've also noticed the elderly/fat hordes hogging the disabled parking bays and think its a disgrace!
a local old man that lives near me SITS IN HIS CAR FOR HOURS outside tescos in one of these bays he drives an old morriss minor traveller and seems to have half the contents of his house in the back
[maybe he's lonely and this is his social life

[mttb14]

Hi to you all,

Sorry if I brought up a very annoying subject, but I do find it very annoying.

When John went for his blue badge a few weeks ago, the lady filling it in asked how far he could walk, he said about 50 metres before having to stop. She then told him that was too far and asked how far he could walk without being in pain, he said every step he takes causes him pain, and he had lots of medical reports to back him up. The badge was then awarded.

Well, every disabled space we have seen, and mostly not been able to park in, has been more than 50 metres from the store or place we have needed to visit.

Is this supposed to be logical or what.

When I was growing up my dad had an industrial accident, not spinal, but he was pretty bust up, 75% disabled. He was always into big cars and he bought a Daimler Limousine, (Just like the Queens). This was our only car so we went everywhere in it. He had an Orange Badge in them days and if he could not find anywhere to park he just parked where ever he wanted with a sign saying no spaces where big enough. He used to park right outside the entrance to Tesco's. People used to come out of the store saying, oh look Mr Tesco's has come to pick up his cash.

(We weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination, but he was car mad and he loved big, plush, very fast cars, they might not look fast, but they are and bullet proof with some of the best safety designs on the road.)

Any way there doesn't seem to be any more disabled spaces now than there was then, but there is probably three times as many cars on the road.

Sorry if this subject has raised anyone's BP, it wasn't meant to.

Maria

[Lucydog]

I dont think anyone minds you bringing up the subject of blue badges. I think we all like to have something to have a good rant about, I know I do!

By the way maybe I shouldnt mention this but is there something you are not telling us if you had to have a bullet proof car when you were younger!!

[Joed]

Lucydog, on Jun 6 2006, 09:31 PM, said:

By the way maybe I shouldnt mention this but is there something you are not telling us if you had to have a bullet proof car when you were younger!!

[LadyPilot]

russ1, on Jun 5 2006, 11:01 PM, said:

You should see the looks I get when I park in the OAP parking spaces (I just can't bring myself to refer to them as disabled spaces these days) - especially when driving sports car !!

Some years ago I went to a well known supermarket. All the "spaces" were taken, but one burley bloke was filling his car with his shopping, (I could'nt see any obvious disability) so I decided to wait.
Seeing that I clearly wanted to park in "his space" he turned and said,"you're not parking in this space..." I replied, "I am.." to which he started towards me saying, "NO....YOU'RE NOT!", "YES...I AM" I repeated. When he reached me I quietly said,"Do you always judge a book by its cover? Im paralysed from my chest down, my wheelchair is in the back..." to which he just walked away.


Also I've forgotten how many time I've been glared at by so called "disabled drivers" who've used a bay to park without getting out, then as I get out with my chair, they leap out and offer to help. I usually give my most evil silent glare back.

[mttb14]

Hi Lucy,

Quote

By the way maybe I shouldnt mention this but is there something you are not telling us if you had to have a bullet proof car when you were younger!!

I didn't, but maybe my father had a secret live we knew nothing about???? Never thought of that while he was alive, so when my powers of talking to the dead finally kick in, I'll ask him. Actually he would also have thought that was funny. When I was a child I always wanted to be a princess and was convinced that I was one in a previous life. So maybe he couldn't afford the castle, so he bought a royal car instead!

Anyway, back to reality and the subject of blue badges.

When John goes for physio up the hospital there are two types of disabled spaces in the hospital car park, ones with ordinary space around them and some with extra wide space either side for wheelchairs, etc. Until now John has managed to get around without a w/chair, but from this Thursday, he will have a chair that has to be pushed by someone else, small wheeled, as decided by occupational therapy, to save him struggling to walk any distance.

Anyway, we have always tried to park in the spaces appropriate to us, and left the wider spaces for people with chairs, but we have noticed that most of the people who use them don't need the extra space, it is just that they are nearer to the hospital entrance so they park in them. Maybe, instead of saying disabled they should actually say wheelchair users, and the others should just be disabled. Doesn't it get confusing.

Also I've notice that you have to pay up front in the disabled car park, but when you have finished your appointment and are leaving in the normal car park???? What happened to free car parking for disabled users, hardly any of the car parks around here are free, they are mostly run by private contract firms and charge everyone with no exception.

Maria

[wendza64]

Hi Maria,
I know what you mean, i have had this happen to me many times, actually nearly all the times i go to do my shopping, i drive up and park, and get my stuff together with my children in the back, and as you said mainly OAP'S, are staring at me and giving me dirty looks, sometimes i just ignore them but once or twice when i have had enough i have blatantly stared back. I also have had an elderly man actually come up to my window and say "did you know that this is a disabled parking place" with which i replied, " yes i know!!"
Our council seems to have given nearly all elderly people a blue badge, and as i have been a para or 21 years i've noticed that this as got much worse over the years.
wendi

[lune14]

I've noticed many of you have an issue about elderly persons being issued parking permits for disabled/wheelchair parking. Do you feel they should not be using them? Most that do have heart issues, respiratory problems, etc etc etc. Before my father recently passed away he had severe lung cancer (but didn't know it yet) and could barely get off the sidewalks.... I felt he needed the badge more than myself to be quite honest. It's a real toss up I suppose, who is more worthy of the parking convenience?? Tough decision. It took us a billion years to get wheelchair parking in the first place, how long will it take to get [them] to designate parking for "other" needy persons? Might make a good poll question.

Where I am located the ADA is quite enthusiastic and accessbility is really quite good. With the influx of awareness and adaptation in my area more and more people are coming out of the woodwork and becomming active members of society once again. However there is still that issue that seems will never disappear where Mary's grandfather was issued a badge in her care and suddenly one day she's at the cinema parking in the wheelchair spot while grandfather is home in bed!!!!

Over the past several years they have tried to avoid such a situation by redoing the expiration dates on the placards to match the birthday of the person it is issued to. Your birth month & day, then the year it will expire vs your birth year is on the placard. This way if you are approached by police your drivers license birthdate needs to match that on the badge. Great idea I thought..... except I have NEVER seen anyone cited for parking in disabled spot illegally. There is a very large shopping mall near me and they had implimented "citizen police" to patrol the parking spaces and legally issue citations. The citizen patrols were disabled persons who worked voluntarily with the local police dept. They have ceased the operation in recent years although I'm not clear as to why.

In my part of the country (western US) our basic parking privledges are free wheelchair parking in designated spots, except in privately owned pay parking garages/lots. We can park free at any city owned metered spot on the streets for unlimited time (standard spots not just those designated w/c although most city street spots are not designated for w/c parking) , and we can exceed time limit on any non-metered timed spot except any that state "20 mins or less".

For seventeen years I parked on the street in front of my office in a "2 hour limit" space (non wheelchair) and was forever receiving citations from police. I finally started writing the mayor and she had the nerve to argue with me via snail mail because the statutes I photocopied and sent to her had been highlighted with yellow specifying the wrong subsection that pertained to my rights. (The woman at the Motor Vehicles Division had actually done the highlighting, not myself) After a month long mail war she refunded my fine (which I diligently paid whilst arguing my case) and closed her correspondence with "you have enlightened me on the law." I had one thought for her at that point

[dom]

i've already replied to this post but one pertinent fact may be that the offender parking in the bays illegally is rarely picked up on because the stores-asda,tesco,sainsbury etc want customers, at any odds and i've heard its staff policy not to offend shoppers by demanding to see their badge because obviously this would affect profits [disgruntled customers]and the like
there were some baywatch programmes but some supermarkets are no longer sponsoring these,i suppose there's no profit

[mttb14]

Hi,

I don't have a problem with how many OAP's or disabled people are issued with a badge, but I do think that when new parking area's are built, that the planners insist on extra spaces for badge users, as there are obviously not enough in any car parks, or at least not in our area of South Wales.

Diana, in the UK badge holders have to have their picture on the badge, so you can see if the person is actually there or not, it holds some other personal details including a copy of your signature. So they can definately identify if you are the holder or not.

The private parking firms in our area seem to be hot on booking anyone parked where they should not be, and the attendants like fining people and having cars clamped!

Maria

[lune14]

The photo idea is GRAND! In the US (at least in the pacific northwest area) I've yet to see anyone cited for parking illegally (even while using someone elses placard and hopping out then sprinting away with no obvious disability/ailment/etc) The photo idea would lessen offences as any person could verify that the placard owner is not in the vehicle.

Recently at the cinema a woman hopped out of her large SUV and rounded up eight young boys from the cargo area. When my quad friend and I politely inquired and reminded her she was in a disabled park she sneered over her shoulder and hustled off to the cinema. I was livid as was my friend. One thing to be doing something wrong but when caught, rectify it at least. If roles were reversed I would have apologized over and over and then moved my vehicle. Oh well cut of different cloth I suppose. Such a shame as she is teaching that herd of youngins bad behavior as well.

I've noticed newer businesses with mass acreage of parking are installing MANY van-accessible parking stalls now. For example our Costco stores (I believe you have many in the UK as well) have typically 10-15 wheelchair/van stalls. The shopping malls don't seem to accomodate that many!

I think Simon's t-shirt line should instead say "I'm not in it for the parking CUZ I CAN NEVER FIND A SPOT!"

Edited by Diana, 28 June 2006 - 02:08 AM.

[dom]

funny thing to me is that although the badge has a photo it has to be displayed on the reverse side to see the expiry date and serial number for the traffic wardens.
this is all well and good but an official would have to confront the person and ask to see the badge for identification whereas it would be a whole lot easier for an 'undercover' or tw checker to instantly see if the person alighting from the vehicle matches the photo on the badge

[lune14]

Ohhhhh LOL so much for THAT grand idea eh dom??

Why do they keep thinking up ways to hinder the good ideas??