do you want my disability too?

[kazza12345]

aarrgghh i have just come back from a shopping trip to sainsburys savacentre. They have 18 disabled parking spaces, but unfortunately they were all full. As i was limping past the spaces, after having parked some way away from the entrance i noticed that 5 out of 18 cars had disabled badges. Do the shop have a duty under the disability discrimination act to not only provide these spaces, but make sure they are used properly as well? Do you think if i plucked up courage to go to customer services they would put it over the tannoy for these annoying people to come and apologise then move their cars? Why do people who can easily walk another few hundred meters in fact refuse to even walk another 5? Do you think if i lumped a very sticky sticker on their windscreen politely reminding them that the spaces were for disabled drivers i could get arrested for property damage? How do other disabled drivers deal with these annoyances?

i know there have probably been posts on this before but i am really seething this afternoon, so please permit me a little leeway!

[jake-the-peg]

Oooh one of my bugbears! I'm not disabled but have a severly disabled nephew.

It's amazing how many "disabled" people there are with expensive cars - especially when it's raining!

I make a bit of a habit of pointing out to blatent offenders that they've mistakenly parked in disabled spaces when I see them.

The logic seems to be It's OK as long as there's another disabled space free

Oh sometimes they need the extra width because people park too close and might damage their expensive paintwork!

I think you could get in trouble for stickers but I'd love to see the court case with the local press in attendance.

you might be interested in this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3485239.stm

and this:

http://www.baywatchcampaign.org/

Actually if you look at their news section there's a 2005 survey section and there's a warning poster to print out and use

[stanleyman]

Fortunately I'm not disabled but if I were, I would park behind any cars not showing a badge in the disabled bay and then go off to complain to the manager (if no help complain to the council), then take my time doing my shopping. On my return I'd make a real slow show of it to make the driver feel guilty (if that's possible) with a suitable comment like "you wouldn't want my problems so why do you want my parking space". If you don't stand up to these people then they'll just keep getting away with it.

[Gef]

Kazza you have my sympathy but I don't think there is much you can do about it without risking some sort of 'retaliation' by the offender. Fortunately I am not disabled but it certainly wrankles when I see abuse of these spaces. Also get annoyed by people who can't park "straight", ie front wheels in space but rear wheels in next space. Apologies for not answering your question but behaviour like this really annoys me.

[ianess]

kazza12345...........seeth away....agree with you 100% but take care not to aggravate your condition. I've often thought about the windscreen sticker idea but admit that I'd rather just put up with it than have any more heart attacks.
I'd love to see a court case involving one of those selfish so-and-so's but it would probably be an assault case. Is it really worth the hassle?

[andrewlee]

A couple of years ago, I just came out of hospital and couldn't get about. A friend took me to Sainsburys, and we borrowed one of their wheelchairs, and parked in a disabled space. We advised customer services that we obviously didn't have a badge, but I was certainly temporarily disabled, but they didn't seem too interested. I guess they wouldn't want to get involved!

However, having had a brief taste of what it's like, were I disabled, and found the special spaces being taken, then I would have no hesitation at all in asking for a tannoy call to be put out asking the offending (offensive?) driver to shift his or her vehicle!

I think that shaming and humiliating the lazy ****s is the best method. I would also use a leaflet, especially if the vehicle in question was one of those ridiculous 4x4s!

Rant over!

[andrewlee]

PS Not advice! But wouldn't it be great to let their tyres down! I did that once many years ago in a public car park when, after waiting patiently for a driver to vacate a space, a cheeky **** nipped in in front, and then made some cocky remark when I challenged him.

After he left, down went his tyres, and off I went to another car park! Enormously satisfying!

[andy-hughes]

Our local Sainsbury's stick large yellow "You are parked in a Disabled Bay" stickers - large ones - on the driver's window of any offending vehicle, so they have to remove it, and they are seriously sticky. I watched someone trying, and failing, to peel one off, he had to drive of with almost all of it still attatched, bet he won't do that again!

Why not ask your local store if this is national policy - if not, it should be!

[Jay70]

I dont blame you for getting cross kazza. I think this also applies to the people who park in the mother and toddler spaces.