[George.GM]

Our local M & S now displays a notice "Everyone must pay for parking. No more Blue badge spaces"
Is this legal ?
If it is or isn't they have lost two customers.

 

[Mad Landsman]

The Blue badge concession is to enable parking when alternatives may not be convenient.
There is no legal obligation for a private operator to provide free space but I understand that they are obliged to designate some wider disabled bays. The owner of the car park can still charge a blue badge holder for parking and this also applies to local authorities - Some do, some do not.

 

[Michael Taylor]

Here in Massachusetts our Disability Pass which you hang from the driving mirror when parked allows you to park anyplace free, meter or otherwise. Seems that some builders in Boston get a hold of Grannie's pass and park outside of their job site all day.

 

[Pompeyfan]

George

Park in the supermarket next door. If you park on the end, you will be as close as the M&S car park, but you only have two hours free parking even with a blue badge. I think M&S was fed up with people using free parking to go into town rather than the store. Even short stay council car parks in the town only have three hours free parking with a blue badge until 1800.

 

[ART6]

Yes, my wife used to do that regularly when she wanted to go into town. She would park up at a big Tesco store on the outskirts, twenty minutes from our village, and then hop a cab into the city centre. (EEK)

 

[Varley]

I exploit the gardener's daughters so that we may park in the more convenient parent/child spaces at a local supermarket.

I am sure they will twig soon enough and demand payment for their 'service'.

Edit: I might add that most of the other users of said spaces do not bother to take the trouble to bring a child, unless they keep them in the boot.

 

[ChathamChavs]

I could never understand the concept of " Free Parking" for Blue Badge holders . By all means , provide wider spaces etc for them . I see quite a few new 4x4s and other expensive cars which display Blue Badges . Being disabled does not mean being impoverished.

 

[george e mitchell]

my late wife was disabled for many years but was still able enough to drive
If we ever went to a strange car park I would tell her to look for all the new cars and 4 x 4s and that would be the blue badge area. We never took advantage
of having a new car at the door

Where I live M&S also have the notice everybody pays, You cant give the ticket to anybody else, as the registration number is on the ticket.

When I retired I got a job in the supermarket carpark 6am till 9 am. when I
noticed a blue car parked in the disability space. so I took notice of it

It came in about 8.30. most days The woman got out. got a trolley, raced through the store, packed the boot of the car and away again. There was always a pair of crutches in the passenger. seat. one day I took my wife to the doctors and while waiting this blue car parked next to me, the lady came out, got her crutches and went in,

Next day shes on time in the supermarket no crutches.

I will leave it there but I see many bowling club members drive away in the blue badge 4 x 4s, after a Sunday afternoon on the greens. and I don't think they
are short of a few bob. either as they say in my part of the world.

 

[expats]

I exploit the gardener's daughters so that we may park in the more convenient parent/child spaces at a local supermarket.

I am sure they will twig soon enough and demand payment for their 'service'.

Edit: I might add that most of the other users of said spaces do not bother to take the trouble to bring a child, unless they keep them in the boot.

I never park in 'disabled spots' but 'bugger the parent child spaces'..

Most of the 'children' are my size and a damn siight fitter..I have some sympathy for those with tiny tots but my local supermarket sign says "Children up to 12 years'; in any sensible country they'd be gainfully employed down the mines or making 'Nike trainers...

 

[Winmar]

I have no issue with genuine disabled people having Blue badges but if they can afford a car they can afford the parking fee the same as the rest of us. And for that reason I would never use a disabled space no matter what...,..... But I do have some real issues with those whose only disability is that they are fat bast*rds and cannot walk because of it, get to board planes first, take up two seats when they get onboard and block the emergency exits in a crisis! One fat **** said to me on a plane, what do you suggest I do? I said, just say no fatty!..............joking!(Jester)

Yes there should be disabled spaces for people who are disabled and ladies with babies but they should pay.

 

[John Jarman]

I never park in 'disabled spots' but 'bugger the parent child spaces'..

Most of the 'children' are my size and a damn siight fitter..I have some sympathy for those with tiny tots but my local supermarket sign says "Children up to 12 years'; in any sensible country they'd be gainfully employed down the mines or making 'Nike trainers...

I agree Ex. Years ago we had four kids under 7 years and no spaces for us back then so I make up for the parking now. I like to have a wide space because of door-bangers as well but never a disabled one.
My mate with his disabled wife, gets his 2018 Volvo X90 road tax paid with Motability so I imagine many like him with Blue Badge.

JJ.

 

[seaman38]

Now well into in my 80's I would like a Blue Badge for its convenience, but I don't want to have to have one, though I do have high blood pressure and am asthmatic and even though living in a town built on seven hills, some very steep. I do get annoyed at the amount of bludgers I know who are just as fit as me, go dancing, play bowls etc and still have 'the badge' some get a new mobility car every couple of years so they can go dancing (or so it seems), some have hidden disabilities, some very well hidden. In our town a one legged man was denied a badge, but a clinically obese woman (self inflicted!) was granted one.

However I always think, be careful what you wish for, a friend took advantage of his wife's badge on every occasion possible (how she , a dancer, got one I don't know) alas he had a stroke and cannot now walk and all his money cannot buy him a cure. The rules for applicants should be tightened not expanded to cover self indulgent eaters and their ilk, nor does stuttering or being dyslexic prevent you from walking, alas it does qualify you to become a para-olympian

 

[signalman]

Seaman38 - The rules have been tightened up. When renewing a Blue Badge, you now have to apply as for a new application. Completing the application form is a nightmare - very easy to give the wrong answer to several questions.

 

[seaman38]

Seaman38 - The rules have been tightened up. When renewing a Blue Badge, you now have to apply as for a new application. Completing the application form is a nightmare - very easy to give the wrong answer to several questions.

I do feel for people who genuinely need one and have to go through a minefield of a Govt form deliberately constructed where-in the questions are framed in an ambiguous manner and a correct answer may be impossible by a simple 'yes' or 'no' tick box