Showing posts with label Blue Badge Blungers. Show all posts

Daily Mail attack disabled parking

As readers of this blog are well aware, there is a serious lack of accessible parking spaces available throughout the majority of the UK. Quite why the Daily Mail feel the need to promote an agenda to remove these spaces and replace them with parent and child parking is beyond me.

Blue Badge Blunders-Manchester & Bolton lead the way!

Manchester and Bolton councils have been prosecuting blue badge offenders for some time now. Their success alongside the Manchester Evening News being able to publish photographs naming and shaming blue badge offenders has led to them being named a centre of excellence by the government.

The government will provide £55million to fund this project. The government also want to make badges harder to forge....which is ironic considering their new 'tamper proof' badges fall apart within days, unlike the old 'non tamper proof' badges which not even the most determined 3 year old could get apart. Let's hope that £55 million gets spent more sensibly!

Blue Badge Blunders-Exhibit 2

With thanks to IforI

The first is the best example - access parking at BlueWater shopping Mall in Kent. Incidentally it has one of those huge disabled toilets with changing room/plinth and hoist. It's a square only for badge holders that has the unique feature of high visibility and extra width at the back for rear entry vehicles like mine - otherwise you reverse out and often get minced by the flow of traffic going through the car park.


The second is a retail park near Argos in Maidstone, Kent. An 'accessible' space in the corner of a car park! It involves parallel parking with full flow traffic entering the area right next to you. Funnily enough the space is usually vacant!

Blue Badge Blunders! The police officer edition

Via Incurable Hippie, who twittered,

RT http://twitpic.com/7n0jr A police officer has just asked me to delete this photo of her van in a disabled bay (via @angusprune)



A police officer has just asked me to delete this photo of he... on Twitpic


Oh dear!

Update 1000 18/06/09 Click here for original image and blog about the situation over at Terence Eden's blog

Blue Badge Blunders! The upsidedown fine edition

I was alerted to this story of blue badge abuse by Bonetired. This is not the standard tale of blue badge abuse, that of perfectly fit, healthy and able drivers parking illegally in areas reserved for disabled parking, which is such a frequent occurrence I doubt there's a disabled person unable to offer examples of how this has prevented them being able to access the service or business they need. Whilst I'm on the subject I'd just like to point out this fantastic initiative by Manchester City Council who have both a dedicated team to tackle blue badge abuse, and a rogue's gallery listing names, addresses and punishments issues to those caught out committing blue badge abuse.

No, this is something a little bit special. Or so Bonetired thought when he spotted it in the Worcester News. Ron Padwick, a 76 yr old great grandfather had parked his car and displayed his blue badge before meeting a friend for a cup of tea. Much to his shock, when he returned to the car Ron found a fixed penalty notice for £35 or £70 if not paid within 2 weeks. A fine the Daily Mail have already inflated to £75. Ron's 'crime' was to have displayed his blue badge upside down!

Sadly, Ron's fine is not unusual. There are instructions about how to correctly display a blue badge included with the information pack given on issue, but in practice many disabled people display their badges upside down or back to front. Poor manual dexterity, pain, or fatigue can all contribute to such simple, frequent mistakes and the majority of traffic wardens are sympathetic to such mistakes. Like any situation there are notable exceptions and Ron joins other disabled people to fall foul of this rule.

Blue Badge Blunders!


Following the incredible (ahem) success of Bog Off! I'm delighted to bring you the associated series Blue Badge Blunders!

The first in this series of blue badge related blunders has been sent to me by Brainblogger, a fan of the Bog Off! series who suggested a similar series for parking offensives related to disabled parking bays or blue badges and their abuse. Similarly to Bog Off!, if anyone would like to send in photos I'll add them to either series.

It's a bit tricky to see just how badly this car's been parked from the photos, but I admire the jaunty angle the owner's used to ensure the maximum amount of spaces are taken up by their car. Of course it didn't have a blue badge!

That said, once I find out where in the country has empty disabled bays like that, I'm moving!

Thanks to Brainblogger, author of the excellent How can you take it easy when you are already taking it easy?
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