My local council are now charging disabled people to park and whats more you can only park with a disabled badge for two hours even if you do pay for longer.
It takes me an hour to do 300yard round trip walking with my walking frame. How am i meant to get around town in 2 hours?! It is so unfair. Disabled people are vunerable people and i thought we were told vunerable people where going to be protected?! Apparently not!
I am very very cross at getting a parking fine because i stayed longer than 2 hours which is all a disabled person is allowed despite paying for all day parking. I do not see how it is fair and the parking attendant told me to get a bus. I would like to know how he thinks i can get a walking frame on and off a bus and then around town and back home again without requiring an ambulance. I am not quite sure who i am more cross at the parking attendant or the council?! I think it is a disgrace that a normal person can pay to park all day and be allowed to park all day yet i park in same place and pay to park all day and because my disabled badge is also showing i get a fine for staying longer than 2 hours despite my meter ticket also being on show - saying i have paid for all day. Excuse me where is the logic in this?!
I do not mind paying to park if i really have to but i do not think it is fair when it takes me so much longer than any other normal person. It pretty much takes me an hour per shop. I cannot help having breathing problems. I cannot help having weak muscles. I cannot help my ill health. I try to do the best i can with what i have and be thankful and yet people like to rub it in!
Life is so unfair! I try to remain cheerful yet it is so very very difficult and people do not make it easy.
I despair!
10 Replies
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Isn't the answer simple - just don't show your blue badge? Or am I missing something?
i wish it was that simple.
Why isn't it simple? If you're allowed to park all day if you buy an all day ticket, then surely if you just display your all day ticket (and don't park in a disabled bay) you can stay all day on the same terms as anyone else. And the additioanl parking costs would be something covered by your DLA.
i am just fuming at the stupidity of my council!!
Playing Devil's Advacate - isn't the idea that the disabled bays aren't filled all day by the same person so the people who need them most and need to be closest to the shops can be? If someone can manage to be out all day (and will be going to different shops anyway) they probably don't need to park next to the door. Having a two-hour limit on those bays seems to allow fair access to everyone.
Ok i did not think to do any of that. I always have my disabled badge showing so that i do not forget to put it out - as i done that before and got in trouble. Now i get into trouble for showing it!
I think from now on i will just pay to park everywhere. Only problem is if i not in a disabled bay i cannot get my walking frame out because the bays are not wide enough.
I am just stuck!
thinnk i will go back to battling to get my walking frame on and off the bus once again and if i land in hospital lots well be it! The bay i was in was not near shops because when are disabled bays ever close to the shops anyway?!
parking spaces
Dear Plumie,
If the parking spaces are close together, stop the car where you intend to park and take your walking frame out ( maybe place it behind the car next to you), get back in the car and park, same on your return, that should ease your problems of being able to use normal parking spaces,as long as you can manage a few steps without it. Hope that helps.
Id be fuming as well.
Youre disabled and should be able to park your car, free of charge for as long as you need.
I thought that was the whole point of having a badge and disabled parking spaces.
Surely you can show you payed for the full day, so you shouldnt be fined.
My daughter is disabled. So when she is in the car, i use disabled parking because she has the badge.
Sometimes, i pull up and park in disabled bay at supermarket. Then i get her wheelchair out of the boot. Quite normal i think.
Ive had complete strangers tell me i shouldnt use a disabled parking bay, even though my daughter is in her wheelchair and the badge is displayed correctly.
Their argument is, since my daughter is in a wheelchair, i shouldnt use the bay because i can push her into the store, no matter how far away i park.
Sorry, but i dont see why i should park somewhere else cos my daughter is in a wheelchair.
I never use a disabled bay if my daughter isnt with me.
Yet i often walk past cars parked in disabled spaces with no badge displayed.
Do i ever consider having a go at them.......no i dont. Cos im not interested in what other people do.
I think its ignorant, but im not going to moan at them.
So far as im concerned, any person who is disabled shouldnt even have to pay to park, let alone be fined for it, esp when they paid anyway!!
Unfortunately issues like this are becoming more common. I was told lot of it was to do with the misuse of blue badges. The criteria for getting one includes some conditions which aren't mobility related & badges are being forged because of the amount of money they can save in parking costs. Manchester council recently took over 50 people to court over such issues. I know some of the car parks in Chester are trying to help by allowing people who have blue badges but are also exempt from road tax to still be allowed to park free. I think this is because you have to have the mobility part of DLA at the higher rate to qualify to not pay road tax. The whole system needs looking at because like Plumie some of the newer car parks provide disabled parking spaces but you still have to pay. So far the carparks are allowing you the same time as 'normal' people. This is lucky as the car park attached to our new local centertainment car park covers all the shops, places to eat & the cinema. If I was in Plumie's situation this would limit my life even further as I would be unable to see a film, let alone get something to eat or do any shopping within 2 hours. I would have to get 3 buses there if I wanted to use public transport or find someone to give me a lift. Taxis there & back are far too expensive despite me getting DLA & the latest one is being charged for wheelchairs as additional luggage!
Apologies for the rant. I think most of us just want to be able to have some independence but as always the system is being abused so everyone suffers in the end.
Good luck Plumie, I hope you will challenge the council on this one as it seems like a case of discrimination.
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