"Isn't this the relevant sentence in the newspaper report? "Signs are to alert drivers to the penalties and Town and City Parking, DVLA-licensed to issue civil penalties, will enforce the rules.""
Only if you date and sign the sign.
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I totally agree with this. I am sick of ignorant/lazy drivers who think that the rules do not apply to them.
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A supermarket is a money making business.
My custom is as important as everyone else to them. I reserve the right to park where I like to avoid damage to my car or facilitate a pain free exit from my car.
Sorry if that makes me an anarchist.
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I'm sure you wouldn't think like that if you were less able-bodied and actually needed to park as close as possible to the shop.
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I am sympathetic to both sides of this argument only because imo supermarkets have designed car parks that are so deficient in the design of their car parks that using a normal space will in the majority mean picking up a dent. They aren't called 'supermarket dings' for nothing.
The day that supermarkets act and provide reasonable space for all cars will be the day I cease to have some sympathy for those who currently park in mother/child and such spaces simply to protect their car from damage.
Plus I would also like to see 'disabled' drivers who clearly have no need for a Blue Badge to lose it - and there are enough of them around to cause frustration and encourage abuse.
Edited by R40 on 11/01/2008 at 17:55
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When Blue badge holders stop the misuse of their badges through allowing the non disabled family member to nip to the supermarket with it, then I too will have more sympathy. To quote a case I was made aware of, a car was parked in a disabled spot by some body who was challenged by the stores staff. ' No, I'm not disabled but my father is and he's in the car " came the reply. Surely they should have only been using the disabled space if the disabled person was actually intending to exit the vehicle. From the ensuing heated discussion, it was clear the driver couldn't grasp the point being made about how such spaces should have been used.
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Glaikit Wee Scunner,
I bet you are one of thoses badge snobs that thinks there car is far more important than everybody else's.
In fact I bet you drive a VW Passat ; )
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"Sorry if that makes me an anarchist."
It makes you something, but it's not an anarchist.
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Asda are going to have a similar scheme at their North Hykeham (Lincoln) store. The proceeds will go to charity.
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Quite a catchy catchphrase the Disabled when they speak on this matter. "Take my space - take my disability". I think I may have stated my position here before, if heaven forbid that I needed a blue badge for a disability I believe that I would become quite demonstrative about the able bodied parking in blue badge spaces.
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I have always thought it strange how people will circle and compete for a space "near the door" in supermarket car parks. I usually park in the quietest part on the basis that my car will be less likely to be savaged by a trolley or clouted by a carelessly swung door or "polished" by a passing shoulder bag. However, I realise I am fortunate in being still able to walk unaided and without the need for a rest for the extra 50 yards or so it often necessitates. ;-)
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My practice as well.
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depends depends
in some places like milton keynes the disabled lobby is quite militant (like the cylists in london) and they get way more disabled bays alocated than a reasonable person would realise they need, there are also many instances of bays allocated to residents being given over to disabled leaving folk who have lived there for years suddenly with nowhere to park, and i get the feeling the supermarkets have been pressured into a larger than normal disabled bay allocation
if some nutter place like this decides to give over half the spaces to disabled people who only number a few percent of the users then i am afraid it only breeds ill will amongst the genuine decent folk
and then you move to a town where there are only one or two disabled spaces and you forget that these are probably more honestly needed
very dodgy knee could have a disabled badge if i wanted but refuse cos i dont want to be labelled a pink fluffy dice
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What I find strange is that those disabled who claim they can only walk a few yards and thus seek their special spot as close to the entrance doors as possible.......... then walk miles around these giant consumer warehouses. Ever been to the Tesco Superstore in Warrington - it's massive and you certainly cover some ground whilst shopping in it .
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What I find strange is that those disabled who claim they can only walk a few yards and thus seek their special spot as close to the entrance doors as possible.......... then walk miles around these giant consumer warehouses.
My ATC unit runs 6 car boot sales each summer, as a fund raiser, and it still amazes me each year that disabled drivers will ignore all the signage that we put out, and often block the access lane, because they have the right to park anywhere. They then , as 2cents points out, walk for miles. If thye can do that, they can park 100 metres up the lane.
I've also noticed at various stores and other places around Manchester that car parks are often full, but will have 10 or more empty disabled bays.
I fully understand the need for disabled parking spaces, and wouldn't wish to ever be in a position where I need a blue badge, but sometimes the holders do take the p.
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A supermarket is a money making business. My custom is as important as everyone else to them. I reserve the right to park where I like to avoid damage to my car or facilitate a pain free exit from my car.
Clearly your custom is not as important to them as anyone else's should you occupy a 'disabled' space that you have no right to - they would rather lose your custom, presumably to please their disabled clients.
I trust you are not serious...
As for the numerous people who use blue badges they are not entitled to, they should have their legs broken so they can use them legitimately.
I have long thought supermarkets should use the same technique as the security chaps where I work - they just stick a difficult to remove A4 notice on the rear side window of your car.
Whatever Asda's motives. well done to them. Personally, I enjoy my walk from the far side of the car park.
Edited by Manatee on 11/01/2008 at 19:56
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What if all spaces are full, except for the disabled?
Surely celebration of diversity and equal ops would dictate that everyone would then have equal right to use them?
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What if all spaces are full except for the disabled?
Easy - the abled find somewhere else to park, the disabled do not, in theory, have that option.
The tough part of doing this is that you know some other able-bodied but selfish prat will go in the space anyway so you might as well have done so yourself.
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'The tough part of doing this is that you know some other able-bodied but selfish prat will go in the space anyway so you might as well have done so yourself. '
Maybe,but you can retain your self-esteem,they,apparently,do not have any.More likely to be feeling smug about getting one over on all the mugs who park properly and don't give a hoot about the disabled,so good if they get a ticket.I,like others,prefer to park away from the hurly burly of the supermarket entrance.At one well known S market I park in a side street where there is pedestrian access through the fence,thus avoiding the car park completely.
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I have been to supermarkets where there are plenty of disabled spaces available but all the other spaces are taken. I drive away. The provision of disabled spaces has gone right over the top in my home town. Frankly, if there are that many disabled people in such a small area, how come the main High Street is not deserted ?
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There's a pretty nasty undercurrent in some of the comments on this thread.
My father has recently got a blue badge. He is terminally ill with prostrate and bone cancer and can no longer drive or walk very far. Now and again I take him and my mother out (they spend a lot of time looking at four walls).
The other day I took them out for lunch at the local Morrisons whilst I did some shopping - doesn't sound much, but to him its a treat. It was fairly busy and there is long line of disabled spaces in front of the building - all were taken. I ended up dropping them by the main entrance (and causing a bit of an obstruction) and then parking my car some distance away. Out of curiosity I wallked along the line of cars in the disabled bays and about 1/3 did not have a badge. One of these was an RX-8 for example.
My experience, at least in my part of the world, is that there is no surplus of disabled parking spaces and many places can be very difficult to get close to.
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now that u mention it my father is dying of prostrate cancer too (isnt the nhs crap) and he too cannot walk normally due to attack of spine
however he could get a blue badge and doesnt
he can drive safely, although he wouldnt have the stamina for going too far
and he drives to the local supermarket where he lives and parks as far away from the entrance as he can
meanwhile much fitter people park in the disabled spaces
so yea nasty but justified undercurrent in my view, having seen some real bad attitude from blue badge holders
ask my dad what he thinks of disabled spaces, he would tell u to scrap em
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There's a pretty nasty undercurrent in some of the comments on this thread.
Quite.
I'm not at all saintly but I can't comprehend how the able-bodied can bring themselves to do this to save 100 yards of walking that most of us could do with anyway. Whether or not blue badges are abused, or there are too many disabled spaces, is irrelevant. I'm just thankful I don't need one yet.
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In the good old days, there were only a few disabled spaces, now about 1/5th of a carpark will be, and they are under-utilised. A lot of people who use them and have the badge just appear to be overweight and unemployed. I think it's time for a big overhaul of the whole system to make sure they are there to help people who need them, rather than those who just know the system and see it as a trophy. Also, many people who should get one can't because of badly written rules.
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I agree. The rise in the number of people on disability benefit has been accompanied by an overall increase in disabled car parking places. Are people who are so heavily disabled that they can walk only yards after getting out of their car , really safe to be driving it in the first place ?
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2cents, if understand the sum of your posts correctly you are hostile to the disabled and their parking spaces in general because there is abuse by some badge holders. This is an illogical position. Your implication that those who can't walk very far shouldn't be driving is merely despicable.
Hamsafar is just wrong when he or she says 1/5 of spaces are for the disabled - I haven't counted them but it would not in my experience apply to supermarket car parks, though it might reasonably apply to small town centre ones (some of which are wholly reserved for the disabled).
Perhaps I'm just taking the bait tonight - I hope so.
Edited by Manatee on 11/01/2008 at 22:21
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'because there is abuse by some badge holders. '
In my view there is abuse on a scale that is seriously undermining the whole concept.
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The only way disabled parking spaces are going to work is if they are properly controlled and monitored; the potential for abuse is infinite. At its simplest level, a series of posts and a chain or barrier to be raised or lowered for a genuine blue badge holder (much like directors' car parks at any number of factories) add to that if required a push button, intercom, hydraulic posts, video surveillance, bar code reader, transponder, key entry, etc.
Nothing that will seriously hold up a genuine BB driver, but enough discouragement to keep out shysters and providing work for trolley collectors, now that coin-op trolleys are so widespread. The provision of human rather than automated, mechanised help should, in any case, be provided for drivers getting into difficulty, disabled or not. (Analogy here with late lamented bus conductors...)
And the supermarkets can well afford it!
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A lot of people who use them and have the badge just appear to be overweight and unemployed.
How does someone 'appear to be unemployed'. Can you tell just by looking at them?
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>> just appear to be overweight and unemployed.
....and how do you know which came first? If you are a very fit, active person in a job which requires physical stamina then you will find two things happen very quickly when you become disabled. Firstly, you will put on weight very quickly (ask any physio) and secondly, you will find yourself unemployable in your previous career. You will then find it very difficult to get work in any other field.
I am always surprised by peoples attitude to disabled people/children. How can you tell at a glance if someone has cancer, MS or a lesion on the spine? All these can be very disabling but do have better and worse days. As said above, if you think easier parking makes up for 365 days a year of pain and disability then think on.
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I knew this would degenerate in to the usual slanging about disabled and child parking spaces! Anyway back to the story.
Our local news featured this last night - Asda are rolling it out across all it's stores and all money will go to Motability.
What the report did say is as the enforcement officers are DVLA approved they have the right to enforce payment of the fines the same as a Local Authority. I don't know how this works, whether it's true or the legislation which gives a private company this power.
I'd also be interested how they would have dealt with me on Thursday. I parked in a child space with our daughter in the car and met my wife. Went shopping, but as I needed fuel my daughter went home in my wife's car so when I left I didn't have a child in my car. If I had been spotted leaving without a child could I have received a ticket?
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>>....... all money will go to Motability.
According to a report in one paper I've read, some of the proceeds will go to the baby charity Tommy's.
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Both right - disabled space money to go to Motobility, child space money to Tommy's.
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My money going to a supermarket that values the MAJORITY of its customers !
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My money going to a supermarket that values the MAJORITY of its customers !
Do they give out badges for the mentally deficient?
Whilst I agree with your comments that some people abuse the system, here you are whinging because you aren't prepared to walk the extra distance that you want a disabled person to walk.
Get real.
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I'm with 2cents on this. Why is that that blue badge holders, who would be deemed unfit to operate heavy machinery in a factory or workshop, are considered suitable to drive a one and half ton vehicle around confined spaces with children around?
Disability Living Allowance for mobility at the higher rate of £45.00 per week more than covers a few taxi fares to local supermarkets and day centres and if you tip nicely, the driver will probably help to take the shopping to your door.
Perhaps the disabled bays of the popular supermarkets should be made in taxi ranks instead.
My late father had a blue badge when suffering with terminal cancer and I believe the blue badge encourages many who are physically unfit to drive to continue to do so and put themelves and others at unnecessary risk.
I wonder if a driving retest was made part of the application for a blue badge how many would pass?
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A stupid and patronising view of disabled issues. You're obviously out of touch with reality.
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 13/01/2008 at 11:25
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Following the use of offensive terminology this thread has been locked. The term used may be offensive enough to be considered as an offence under S4 Public Order Act 1984 - the liability would be on the person who posted the comment. The thread is locked. I for one an shocked at the attitudes displayed by members in this thread, especially as there are disabled BR users here.
The offensive post has been hidden from public view. The poster in question has mail. (you know who you are)
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 13/01/2008 at 12:12
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