A couple of my neighbours have disabled parking-spaces on the road outside their homes.
Their cars don't have orange badges, though. Are they breaking the law?
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I would have thought so.
Could it be the spaces were for previous tenants?
As a footnote, orange badges are obsolete now, and have since been replaced with blue badges.
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Depending on the issuing authority the blue badges may include name, address, photograph and car registration + an expiry date
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A couple of my neighbours have disabled parking-spaces on the road outside their homes. Their cars don't have orange badges, though. Are they breaking the law?
YES
As the driver for a Disabled Badge holder, I know what is involved on both sides. I know the temptation to grab an empty parking space, disabled or not. I also know the needless suffering caused by those who callously deprive the disabled of the help that their parking spaces give them.
DO NOT PARK IN DISABLED PARKING SPACES.
eProf
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YES
Thanks - I'll tip-off the local traffic warden. I don't know how they got the disabled spaces painted there in the first place.
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Chris, chapter and verse from our local council's site.
Disabled Parking Bays
The Council recognises the difficulties of disabled drivers and especially their need to be able to park outside or near to their homes. With this in mind the Council has implemented a policy to provide an individual parking bay for disabled persons in areas where there are parking difficulties.
In the interest of fairness and consistency the Council has agreed that every applicant should be required to meet the criteria below:
The Applicant MUST IN ALL CASES:
be a driver who drives his or her own vehicle
be unable to walk more than 50 metres from the front door of his or her home
have a disability that is expected to last for more than 12 months which prevents the ability to walk more than 50 metres.
Exceptions cannot be progressed when applicants fail to satisfy any of the above criteria.
Under certain circumstances the locational criteria listed above have been relaxed following a report to the Traffic & Parking Working Party.
The Location of the bay should:
be outside the applicants own home (unless exceptional circumstances can be shown)
not be on a distributor road (as defined in the Local Transport Plan)
not be subject to parking restrictions
be subject to parking pressure which prevents the applicant from parking their vehicle
be available for use by any vehicle displaying an orange / blue badge
Additionally the applicants home should have no existing off street parking or the potential for such a facility.
How do I apply for a bay?
If you satisfy the specified criteria and wish to be considered for the provision of a bay, please download and complete Part 1 of the form and arrange for Part 2 to be completed by your Doctor/Medical Adviser. (Please note that your Doctor may charge for completion of part 2).
Completed application forms should be sent to the Technical & Environmental Services Department together with proof that you are the driver of the car (e.g. copy of insurance details).
On receipt of the application, a check to see whether all the criteria are met will be carried out. You will be notified about the progression of your application through the Traffic & Parking Working Party.
All bays progressed are subject to the statutory advertisement of a Traffic Regulation Order which may attract comment from local residents and these will be further considered by the Committee.
On final approval of the Traffic Regulation Order, the bay will be marked and signed on site.
Use of the bay
Though the bay is provided for the applicant, any vehicle displaying an orange/blue badge can park in the bay. It cannot be reserved exclusively for the applicants use.
Any vehicle parking in the bay and not displaying a badge contravenes the Traffic Regulation Order and the driver/owner may be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice.
Annual Review
In the interests of road users all are subject to an annual review at the beginning of each year. Any bays that are no longer required by the applicant will be removed.
Similarly if at any time during the year, notification is given that a bay is not being used or is no longer required then subject to confirmation the bay will also be removed.
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While on holiday in France I recall seeing a sticker (in a disabled driver's car, I believe) - I can't remember the words precisely, but the gist of it was, "If you take my place then take my disability also."
I am totally disgusted by able-bodied people who park in spaces for the disabled. There was a case a while back of an (able-bodied) estate agent who used his mother's blue badge to park virtually wherever he wanted until the law caught up with him and dealt with him severely.
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My best mate has a blue badge (he has great difficulty in walking very far) and needs the extra width provided by diabled parking spaces in order to open the door as wide as possible so he can get in and out of his car.
When such places are taken by non-disabled drivers it is not only frustrating for him and other disabled drivers, but makes life even more difficult than it needs to be.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Chris
Is the rest of the road either side of the bays subject to a waiting restriction or limited parking bays?
If not is there a Traffic Regulation Order cover the two disabled bays?
Without such an order cannot see how the bays are lawful.
dvd
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A couple of my neighbours have disabled parking-spaces on the road outside their homes. Their cars don't have orange badges, though. Are they breaking the law?
No
I'm fairly sure that they are not breaking the law, on the say so of our local highways department. They are there as a help and do not give a right for a disabled person to park there. There are definitely not allocated to a particular house or person.
In our street, no one parks in it other than the disabled person across the road.
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I've just found this on my local council's website:
Parking in a disabled bay without a badge
We are not able to take any enforcement action against anyone parked in a 'courtesy' disabled bay painted in white on the road outside of houses. These markings are often put down by our department, but carry no authority by us, or the police, to enforce.
My neighbour isn't disabled so I might just park in 'his' space just to see what he says.
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Don't agree with parking in disabled bays, nor do I agree with the 'I've got a badge so can dump my car anywhere' brigade.
The sheer arrogance of some 'disabled' drivers who completely block roads and junctions after dumping their cars never ceases to amaze me.
At least I can give them an 'unecessary obstruction' ticket to calm me down!!
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The whole incident reminds me of when Alf Garnet borrowed his wife's wheelchair so he could sit on the edge of the pitch at a Spurs game!
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Must say Chris this seems a strange situation.
We have Council A with application forms signed by doctors, TRO's taken out with enforcement and a yearly review procedure and then we have Council B who just slap a bit of white paint down where they feel like it and ignore.
Given that they could be neighbouring council areas and the border could be down the centre of the road, (we have such an instance locally, rubbish collection is on different day of week depending on which side of road, you really couldn't make it up!), you could be ticketed one side of the road and not on the other for parking in one of these bays. No wonder motorists get confused!!!!
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I know of someone who uses a blue badge to park on double yellows (not in disabled bays) despite being able bodied. How? It used to be his mothers who passed away and the badge doesn't show anything other than a number and expiry date as far as I remember. Unless someone shops him who's to know? They didn't ask for the badge back following her death and I've never seen or heard of a warden checking up on the number. It expires in 2008. At least he doesn't use it to park in D/bays but I have shown is my disapproval.
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the badge doesn't show anything other than a number and expiry date as far as I remember.
On the reverse side will be a photo of his mother - unless he's gone to the trouble of replacing it with his own mug shot.
Unless someone shops him who's to know?
What is stopping you from doing so?
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Praise the lord for midlifecrisis!
The area where I live is inundated with blue badge holders dumping their cars in the most awkward possible places with the jusitification of the 'blue badge'. It is not a licence to park anywhere they feel. SOME blue badge holders, i repeat, SOME blue badge holders, show no regard for other road users with their behaviour, and are the first to get on their high horse if anyone dare question their actions. This is usually the ones who leap from their cars and jog to the shop for a paper.
I am all for letting those with genuine mobility problems ease of parking. IMHO however the blue badge, and motability schemes are two of the most widely abused schemes in operation today.
I know everyone seems to be displaying their halos in this thread, but I'll put my hands up and say I've often bitten the dashboard in frustration at the actions of some of these people.
--
let me be the last to let you down....
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"What is stopping you from doing so?"
For personal reasons. He's a potential suicider.
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"What is stopping you from doing so?" For personal reasons. He's a potential suicider.
I'm biting my tongue, which for some reason also prevents me from typing what I'm thinking right now.
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