people do some odd things don't they
couple of days ago i went for a consultants visit at a private hospital and being Mr Punctual got there hideously early, so sat there in the car park with the DT as my companion
i'd managed to park right outside the building i wanted, directly next to 2 disabled bays. Most people went in/out of this building, but there were other buildings on the same complex. There were a couple of free spaces 4 cars away and the further you went from the main building, the more sporadic spaces there were, until eventually the car park was virtually empty
eventually a rather battered Omega estate pulled up with two 60 something occupants, they parked in one of the disabled bays...no problem so far as they had a badge displayed..but then got out and walked off elsewhere towards where all the empty parking spaces were
this meant that not only had they parked further away than they needed to, they'd taken a disabled bay right o/s the building that someone else might have needed. I can only presume the mentality was i've got a permit so i'm going to utilise it
how strange
Edited by Pugugly on 18/04/2008 at 18:18
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I find the worse culprits for this are the 'healthy, active, lifestyle SUV' mums (esp. X5 XC90) who park as close as possible to the supermarket doors (in disabled or child spaces - all are fair game) so they don't have to walk further than is absolutely necessary to buy their organic, free-range, air-freighted produce.
Or those who dutifully take their junk to the local dump and carefully place it in the appropriate recyling bins to cut down on landfill waste, etc. - whilst leaving their engine running as they unload their car.
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If I was unfortunate to become disabled, I would become an activist. I have come feel strongly about it.
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At the local swimming pool where I work, car parking is shared between the pool, the health club and a recently refurbished community centre housed in the old railway station. Consequently, parking spaces are at a premium and some people (not me, I cycle in) resort to "guerilla parking" on the grassed areas and up kerbs. Free use of the disabled parking bays is made by the contractors' vans. One lady thought she had found a space to shoehorn her Discovery into but the filthy back window and misaligned rear wiper suggested she might not have been able to see the substantial tree about 4 feet back from the kerb she intended to reverse onto. The Disco crept back on tickover but stopped at the kerb. It then moved forward and reversed again. And stopped again. The driver gunned the engine and the Disco bounced over the kerb and slammed into the tree with enough noise to bring the pool receptionist out to see what had happened. The driver was last seen picking bits of rear light up and trying to insert them into the bent bumper, jigsaw style.
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I was in plaster, (and on crutches) following a broken ankle.
SWMBO wanted something from the local DIY shed, but needed me there (bless 'em).
We parked in a disabled bay in the customers only car park.
When we returned, we were treated to a torrent of abuse from the disabled badge holder who felt we were preventing him from using the space we were in. I wouldn't have minded, but he was a lot more nimble on his pins than me.
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>I was in plaster, (and on crutches) following a broken ankle.
Badge holders can be fiercely protective of "their" spaces, especially the older folks.
A few years ago my BiL had both legs crushed below the knees in an industrial accident. While he was getting them fixed we used to take him and his wife to an out of town supermarket on Saturday mornings. I'd drop them off at the door with my wife and then go and park. When we got to the checkout I'd go and fetch the car and wait for them in a disabled bay where I wouldn't block traffic.
On one occasion I'd fetched the car and was stood beside it waiting for them. A car pulled into the bay alongside me and out climbed a couple in their 60's who proceeded to give me a verbal lashing for parking without a badge. Despite trying to politely explain why I was there they became quite abusive. They continued to rant even after my BiL arrived on crutches and wearing a contraption bolted through one leg to stretch the bone.
Unable to see the irony they set off for the entrance at a sprightly pace with the woman calling over her shoulder
"If he's fit enough to walk around the store you shouldn't be parked there!"
Kevin...
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Town outside Edinburgh - Livingston - a great shopping centre. But everyone there seems to try to straddle the lines on each bay so that the next car has not enough room, so moves to the next bay. I suppose they cut down on "dings" but it doesn't half cut down the number of parking spaces.
And to the east of Edinburgh is the old A1 road - 4 lanes of a 30mph limit, not heavily used at all any more since the by-pass was built. So why do people park their cars half on the pavement?
And why is it that, in our company car park on the "end" spaces, BMW drivers never seem to be able to place their cars within the white lines of the parking "box" - they always seem to end up with their wheels over the line.
And why do drivers of Mercs/BMWs/Audis never seem to be able to afford hands-free mobile phones?
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I've tried to recall parking in a silly way that didn't involve SUVs, but I failed. Except for the Manchester episodes re the rise and fall bollards, where it wasn't just the high-driving position warriors who were caught. No further episodes since the pioneers tried it on?
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In films and on TV, slobs in slobmobiles are always driving straight into enormous great parkers placed just where they are needed, leaping out and rushing indoors to kill people and so on.
In real life, idiots park their cars in the middle of two-car spaces, begging to be killed by someone in a bad temper. But they can't be blamed. They have only been misled by the media.
Edited by Pugugly on 19/04/2008 at 00:12
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i have a blue badge but even so if its a race to the last disabled bay and the other car driver has grey hair i back off im disabled not stupid :-)
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It's no stranger than the driver who reversed into my car, which was parked at the dentist's, and then he stayed in his seat and let his passenger (his wife?) do all the talking!
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What is the rule for disabled spaces, then? My understanding is that you have to have a blue badge to use them - so "temporary" injuries like a broken leg wouldn't count??
Surely it would have been easy enough to drop them at the entrance door - go off and find a space and then drive back to the door to pick them up?
Or am I being too logical?? ;)
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