Disabled spaces are critical, and enable members of the public to do things that they just wouldn’t be able to do otherwise
Disabled spaces are critical, and enable members of the public to do things that they just wouldn’t be able to do otherwise
Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was embroiled in controversy at the start of April, as he was photographed getting into a chauffeur-driven Landrover that had parked in a disabled bay. There was no appropriate badge on display, and there were plenty of other spaces available, according to onlookers. The Chancellor said he had no idea that the car was parked in the disabled space: an excuse that must be uttered with relative frequency in every town centre in the UK.
To be allowed to park in a disabled bay, the car in question must display a valid disabled parking permit, or ‘Blue Badge.’ The ‘Blue Badge’ scheme is run by the government, and allows disabled people – or those who transport them – to avoid certain parking exemptions. To qualify automatically for a badge, you must be on the highest rate of Disability Living Allowance (soon to change to Personal Independence Payments) be registered as blind, or have a vehicle supplied through Motability.
Discretionary badges can also be given to those who are unable to walk or have great difficulty walking. In most councils, there is an administrative fee (this is £20 in Glasgow).
As stated above, the spaces are there for people with the most severe disabilities, blindness or an inability to walk. Deaf people, for example, are not included, because deafness shouldn’t affect your ability to walk from a parking space to a business entrance. (Take note, Liz Jones.) Your sore tummy, flu or tickly cough does not make you ‘disabled’ – and those who face daily struggles to do what the rest of us would consider simple tasks would probably take umbrage to the comparison.
Those who believe they are entitled to a ‘Blue Badge’ are encouraged to fill in a form issued by their local council, usually running to about twenty pages, and pay an application fee. You can’t help but sympathise with those who have been incapacitated and are being asked to supply photocopies of all sorts of documentation and simply cannot be bothered. Of course, these are the people we are unlikely to see rocking up to Asda in a luxury vehicle and skipping from car to supermarket without a care in the world.
“I’m only getting one thing from the shop, and I really need to get to a meeting in the next ten minutes, give me a break!” Maybe you shouldn’t have left it so late? What would you have done if all of these spaces had been taken? Perhaps you could park further away, and run to the door, all the while thinking how lucky you are that you can run? There are good reasons for those spaces, and the people who have to use them will often wish that they had to park further away but didn’t have the affliction that has entitled them to the space. Mull that one over.
But if someone comes along who needs it, I’ll move! Many appear to think that it’s OK to use a disabled space if you are still in the car, on the basis that they can move to another space if an entitled user comes along. The key problem with this attitude, obviously, is that you are unlikely to know when a disabled person has come along. Are you going to spot the Blue Badge? Will you be looking out for it on every passing vehicle? Are you waiting for someone to limp out of their car and tap on your window? Moreover, they aren’t going to know that you are willing and able to move. They just see a parked car in a disabled space and think they will have to go elsewhere.
Perhaps people feel that they aren’t causing any problems – disabled people have plenty of choice in terms of parking spaces, as there are usually ‘too many’ outside the businesses they are frequenting. There are over 10 million people registered as disabled in Britain, so the chances of someone having a disability and therefore a Blue Badge is relatively high. Also, bear in mind that disabled people are more likely than most to use a car of some kind as their main form of getting around, due to the inherent difficulties in using public transport.
The comment so often trotted out when people are being told they can’t do something they want to do, this phrase surely cannot apply when we are talking about sensible rules which are applied for the right reasons? Seriously?
Disabled spaces are critical, and enable members of the public to do things that they just wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. As we are all aware, they are designed to reduce the distance between the parking facilities and the entrance to the establishment in question. They are also usually wider in size – something that makes a world of difference to a disabled motorist (or passenger) who needs space to assemble a wheel chair.
Parent and child spaces are there for a similar purpose, to allow the ease of setting up a pram and manoeuvring children and their huge amounts of paraphernalia. And no, this doesn’t mean you can park here with your twenty-year-old daughter. Be thoughtful. The idea is to think of those who are the least advantaged and having the greatest struggle – but too many people, without the proper permits, seem to think that this also applies to them.
Unless perpetrators are caught (by the correct enforcement authority!), they won’t face a penalty of any kind. At the time of writing, the Chancellor had not even apologised for the incident, and the drivers of the car in question have not been fined. So, by way of ‘punishment’ all we can really do is what the Great British media are doing an admirable job of – shaming perpetrators. However, the problem with tuts and pointed stares in public car parks is that a) we are at risk of judging a genuinely disabled person who has every right to the space in question and b) those with the gumption to deliberately violate the rules on this matter may be the most likely to be unaffected by such ‘shaming’.
