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Blue Parking Badges
Now the law allows the Police and Traffic Wardens to “inspect the badge” will this make any difference
to the wrong people using blue badges?
Response
Probably not.  There is supposed to be a £1000 fine for non disabled people using blue badges.  It is a
criminal offence to display a blue badge in a vehicle that is not being used by the badge holder, but this
does not seem to stop people feeling that it is OK to use somebody else’s badge.
                                                                                                                                              Posted by Sue 17.10.06
Response
I hope it will.  I have a disabled parking bay outside my house and it was not that easy to get it in the first
place.  Now I have it, I can hardly ever use it because other people park there and most of them do not
seem disabled but a lot of them have badges. It is making my life a misery.  Nobody really seems
bothered.  Why does nobody seem to care?  Don’t they realise how important it can be?
                                                                                                                                               Posted by Jeff 18.10.06
Response
My husband is disabled and he has a blue badge. It is dreadful to see the amount of people abusing
disabled badges and disabled parking areas. Disabled parking is to help disabled people.  My
husband has very poor mobility and needs it.   I think blue badges should be checked often.  We have
seen the badges being abused by people who are very able bodied.
                                                                                                                                                Posted by MB 20.5.07
Response

I have used a wheelchair for 25 years . Disabled parking has just got worse and worse in that time. All
badge holders should have a medical review and if they do not meet the standard the badge should be
withdrawn.  Badges should be checked regularly when they are in use to make sure the right people are
using them..  Any able bodied person found using a disabled bay or using a disabled badge should get
a heavy fine.
                                                                                                                                                 Posted by CD 30.5.07
Response
Why not put the vehicle number on the blue badge?  It would stop a lot of abuse.         Posted by Kate 1.9.07     

 Response
Responding to Kate about Blue Badges and putting the vehicle number on them:  I have a specially
adapted car but I do not always go out in my own car.  Sometimes I go out with family or friends.  With
the present system I can use my badge whichever car I travel in.  If the vehicle number had to be on the
badge it would mean my friends and family would not be able to park close to places for me.  It would
make things very difficult.  Surely there must be a way of stopping able bodied people abusing the
system without doing this?  
In my experience, nobody really seems bothered about this except disabled people themselves, and
only they know what a big problem it can be. I think the idea of heavy fines for able bodied people
 caught abusing the system might put people off.  At present, the parking abusers often seem to just think
 it is a joke.                                                                                                                               Posted by JL 8.9.07    
  
 Response
I think that a lot of able bodied people who use disabled parking bays simply do not understand the
damage they are doing.  They tend to say things like “I was only popping in the shop for 5 minutes” and
 they do not seem to understand that the disabled person who drives up 5 seconds later has no way of
knowing if they will be there for 5 minutes or 3 hours.  Perhaps what is needed is a publicity campaign to
 inform able bodied people what it  all actually means to a disabled person who cannot park in the
places designated for them?
                                                                                                                                        Posted by Margaret 15.9.07
Response
My husband cannot walk at all and so has a blue badge.  If I am with him I can push his chair further than
he can cope with on his own.  If we cannot get a disabled parking space it is less of a problem but if he
is on his own he simply cannot manage long distances in his wheelchair.  He often finds able bodied
people parking in disabled places when there is plenty of space in the rest of the car park. People
cannot be bothered to walk a few extra yards.  If you make a comment to people without badges, you
just get abuse.  It would do people good to see what it is like for people who cannot walk and then they
might be a bit more considerate.
                                                                                                                                   Posted by MC 2 October 2007  
Response
It is a mistake to think that every disabled person looks disabled.  My sister is an amputee following
bone cancer and has made miraculous efforts to overcome her difficulties.  On a good day nobody
would believe she does not have both fully functioning legs.  She also has bad days when everything is
very painful and difficult.  She may not look disabled but she definitely is.  Although there is a lot of abuse
of disabled parking, not everybody who looks able bodied really is.
                                                                                                                                  Posted by Carl 4 October 2007

Response
I challenged the driver of a van which was displaying a blue badge parked in a disabled bay outside my
home.  He and his mate were carrying furniture, washing machine, fridge etc out of a flat.  Very heavy
work up and down 2 fllghts of steps.  It was difficult to believe either of them was disabled.  I just got a
mouth full of abuse.
                                                                                                                                 Posted by WRM 7 October 2007
 
 Response
I was glad to read on your site that  Asda is getting tough with people who do not have blue Badges,
parking in disabled bays.  There is a completely “don’t care” attitude or a feeling it is all a bit of a joke
amongst some people.  I was in Asda on Thursday and after circling the car park at least a dozen times,
I spied a young woman, pushing a very heavily laden shopping trolley RUNNING to her car.  I stopped
and watched as it looked suspiciously as if she was heading for a disabled bay.  Sure enough, when
she reached the car it WAS in a disabled bay.  I waited, wondering when the disabled person was going
to arrive.  They didn’t.  This woman busily heaved a massive amount of shopping, energetically nipping
 round the car to all doorways, jumping up, leaning across, heaving this and that.  Then suddenly she
noticed ME.  Would you believe the terrible sight of me actually caused her to develop the most
theatrical limp you have ever seen?  
She hobbled round the car and into the driving seat, gave me a sheepish grin and drove away at speed.
I did not get close enough to see if she had been displaying a blue badge but I would make bets that if
she was, it was not hers.  Yes, some disabled people do not look disabled but some people really do
take the biscuit.  I am sure she was a nice enough person, in a hurry, did not think it would matter.  But
of course it does.  I hope Asda brings in fines  throughout the country very soon.
                                                                                                                                  Posted by MC.  7 October 2007  
Response
Glad Asda is bringing in fines.  I hope the other supermarkets do the same.  It’s about time somebody
took this seriously.
                                                                                                                                 Posted by Tom 19 October 2007                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                        
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