Blue badge misusers...

[Kayless]

Just been watching the Panorama program featuring these selfish lowlives. Why are people such idiots? They behave appallingly when caught and make any number of lame excuses. How shall we stop this? Personally I'd remove the badge for a year each time. The real badge holders would then police this for us, what do you think?

[barry1010]

Rowanwitch, if your disabled friend isn't well enough to get out of the car, you shouldn't park in a disabled space. That's the rule.

It's to enable the disabled person to get to and from the car, not the carer/driver.

[bigglez]

only the whites were fined ?

[Ankou]

without wishing to sound derogatory, the blue badge owners in my local supermarket are very well to do. there are several range rovers, mercs and porsches often camped in the disabled bays.

i do not wish to besmirch these people or proclaim their wiles, but climbing up into a range rover or down into a porsche do not seem to be the most practical for someone with a disability.

[cazzz1975]

with some back problems, owning a taller car is more beneficial.

I dont understand the envy at the newness of disabled cars, they are contract hire cars, not owned by the driver, just hired.

[barry1010]

Yes, cazz, and they have the choice of spending the money on booze/fags/bingo or a hire car.
If they don't have the car they keep the cash.

[Ankou]

cazz you have perhaps misunderstood me, it is not envy, merely an observation.

[cazzz1975]

I think its sad that the blue badge abusers have made it so that any disabled person using a disabled bay is literally put on trial everytime they get out of their car. not all disabilities will be instantly noticeable on getting out of a vehicle and walking 10 yards.

[Ankou]

if they have a blue badge their debilitiation has never particularly attracted my attention or judgement. i am just an admirer of cars.

[barry1010]

It is sad, cazz.

My father always drove very nice sporty cars - his last car was a Jag but when he got severe mobility problems he had to change it to a 4x4 for two reasons - he couldn't get in and out of low car and he needed a car big enough for a hoist to get his mobility scooter in to the back.

He owns his car outright, still works but the looks he gets when he displays his blue badge is sometimes scary. He is a proud man and walks upright as much as he can and tries to disguise the pain he's in.

No respect, some people. Just because the car is displaying a blue badge does not mean it is hired on the motibility scheme. It does not mean the driver does not work.

[daffy654]

I gave up my blue badge because I was sick of the abuse I used to get from people who didn't believe I had an entitlement to one, to them I looked healthy because i'm not always in my wheelchair and I don't limp. I do have terminal lung disease causing breathlessness and pain in my chest which worsens with minor exertion, (from a major lung operation), so I can't walk far at all.

[Carakeel]

I do have a disabled badge and I do use it all the time. Why do I have it? Some of the problems I have had over the years are two broken vertebrae in my back, permanent serious damage to the nerves and muscles in my back and legs, I've had bone cancer, have two replacement knees etc. I live on large doses of pain killers every day, as otherwise the pain prohibits me from functioning. I am unable to walk without pain. Do I look disabled? Well, sometimes yes. But I fight against it and try to look as "normal" as possible, because I don't like being discriminated against, something mungbeanz would obviously prefer, and I don't want my disability to stop me living a "normal" life. The pain killers make me feel tired a lot, so I try to take only enough to manage the pain, not get rid of it, as I want and need to be awake during the day. I am my 95 year old mother's carer and she has dementia and is no longer mobile or able to do anything for herself. So, I cannot afford to take the medication needed to take away the pain, as it will also put me to sleep! But because I do my best not to let others see the pain I am in, ratter is right, I do get the odd nasty comments, which can be upsetting. To be honest, I really don't think you can expect real disabled badge users to police this situation in the car parks though. Honestly, being disabled is no fun and we have enough on our hands coping with our own day to day problems as it is!!

[woofgang]

Our local tesco will allow prople who are temporarily disabled e.g. a leg in plaster, or perhaps holiday visitors who have no disabled badge as they have no car themselves, to use their disabled bays if you ask. My Mum used to visit me and couldn't walk far or fast so I used to ask at the service desk and they would make a note of my car reg and the dates my mum would be staying. A very helpful and sensible idea.

[mungbeanz]

Carakeel, I was trying to offer constructive advice to stop people misusing disabled parking spaces. I agree that disabled people shouldn't be discriminated against, but how can that be done without somehow drawing attention to ones disability? Although maybe ill thought out, the little blue car idea would at least stop do-gooders peering in through the windscreen at your badge.

[RATTER15]

"Although maybe ill thought out, the little blue car idea would at least stop do-gooders peering in through the windscreen at your badge."

And stop the driver of the little blue car from ever driving on a motorway!!

Why not just hang a great big sign around their neck informing people of their disabilty!!!

[mungbeanz]

RATTER, parking in a disabled space automatically draws attention to your disability, or lack thereof in the case of tricksters.

[woofgang]

those blue cars were withdrawn as they were very expensive to produce and unsafe
http://www.thepetrols...invacar-model-70.html
They also didn't allow people with disabilities to do what the rest of us can do in terms of taking a friend along etcetera.

[Carakeel]

Hmmm, I wonder what it would look like ... having three Irish Wolfhounds in one of those little blue cars!! Oh dear! You see mungbeanz, we disabled people do like to live like everyone else and confining us to having ridiculously small, expensive, inefficient and unpractical cars is, to be honest, a daft idea! People who are physically disabled do usually try to be as active as they possibly can. It is called "not giving up"! Disabled people have families, jobs, animals, shopping etc etc, so making us use those little blue cars would be totally counterproductive!! We should be encouraging disabled people to live their lives to the full, not restricting them when they are already limited by their disability! I do think that people who abuse the disabled badge system by stealing and/or using badges when they themselves are not disabled should be heavily fined. At the same time though I do think hospital doctors should be given the power to issue temporary disabled badges, i.e. where someone has broken a leg and is unable to walk without pain for a while.

[cazzz1975]

"Why not just hang a great big sign around their neck informing people of their disabilty!!!"

not good enough ratter, they have to look as physically disabled as possible otherwise they will be deemed a fraudster. the popular one that means you are genuine seems to be a limp. though im uncertain to whether a limp can be put on by a fraudster..

[mungbeanz]

OK, no little blue cars. (I was only suggesting the option of owning one, not the mandatory usage). I consider disabled people as normal people. But, if walking is difficult then they need to be helped. This is not condescending, but neccesary. The reality is that however hard disabled people want to live normal lives, some aspects have to be different to achieve this. Wheelchair ramps and parking spaces for example. I believe we already are encouraging disabled people to live life to the full.

[cazzz1975]

except in car parks where the validity of their disability is judged as they get out of their car.