Emmerson I know a senior manageresse in our Brewery Field branch of Tesco personally - my wife and I often meet her in the store - first name term old boy.
Colin and Emmerson why are'nt you watching the Rugby?
Tell Merna Ta very much. I will be in at 10 tomorrow! LOL
Tell Merna Ta very much. I will be in at 10 tomorrow! LOL
Can I ask why Blue Badge holders seem to think that if their spaces are full they are entitled to park in Parent & Baby spaces? Whilst I agree that Parent & Baby don't need to be right next to the door, (although safety issues make it easier with Toddlers to be near the entrance)have they ever tried to open a car door and get a baby seat in or out of the car with a 6 inch gap when someone parks right up close to you in a normal space? These spaces are designed to give extra width to allow safe & easy access to get small children in & out of cars just as much as Disabled people may need the extra width to access their vehicles.If Parents started to use Blue badge spaces as the norm when their spaces were full there would be uproar but it does appear to be ok for Blue Badge holders to use the child spaces. Why?? I wouldn't park in a disabled space and am fed up getting an earful from some Victor Meldrew type who has parked in a baby space and I have queried as to why. Also why do the major supermarkets have such an apathetic view on dealing with any issues in their carparks? What is the point of Tesco Mother & Baby club window stickers for parking when I have never seem one of their stores enforce it?
Just a thought and will probably be hung & drawn, I can see a very real need for disabled parking and think it is a very good idea, but why FREE parking in a lot of places ? My wife was recently in Addenbrooks hospital for a emergancy major back Op, luckily on the road to a good recovery, it cost me best part of
Paul, we use disabled parking facilities, but like you, I cannot see any reason why they should be free either. Indeed, why are mobility cars tax exempt? And why do we travel across the Severn Bridges for free? I don't have the answers to these questions, but I'm quite happy to take advantage and save my meagre pension for other things!
These bays are free,because someone in Goverment thought they may get a few votes from it. Like Council Tax is going to be reduced because it's a vote winner. The money will still need to be raised, but not off everyone.
Frank
Frank
I have little personal experience of dissability apart from having a disabled Aunt. Her vehicle is her life line to maintaining a reasoanble life style and some freedom of mobility and independence as it must be for many others.
As a disabled person she does not pay to park or pay road tax and chooses to pay for her own vehicle and use her mobilty allowance the way that suits her. She also does not pay VAT on improvements she had needed to convert her home to suit her needs.
If our society can't afford people with genuine dissabilties these benefits, I feel it would be a far poorer society and that many with dissabilities would be forced in to a recluse life style.
Ria
As a disabled person she does not pay to park or pay road tax and chooses to pay for her own vehicle and use her mobilty allowance the way that suits her. She also does not pay VAT on improvements she had needed to convert her home to suit her needs.
If our society can't afford people with genuine dissabilties these benefits, I feel it would be a far poorer society and that many with dissabilities would be forced in to a recluse life style.
Ria
Throughout this thread there are some people who continue to imply that blue badge holders are exempt for paying for parking.
Whether or not blue badge holders have to pay for parking is down the organisation that operates the car park. It is a local decision.
In some car parks Blue badge holders do have special spaces but are required to pay just as every one else.
Whether or not blue badge holders have to pay for parking is down the organisation that operates the car park. It is a local decision.
In some car parks Blue badge holders do have special spaces but are required to pay just as every one else.
Ria,
I agree 100% with your post, people who need help should receive that help, without having to feel grateful for it. Society has to provide for the week and infirm, it is a natural feeling inherent in most civilised peoples of the world.
The debate seems to be about the people who abuse the system not the ones who need the system
Val & Frank
I agree 100% with your post, people who need help should receive that help, without having to feel grateful for it. Society has to provide for the week and infirm, it is a natural feeling inherent in most civilised peoples of the world.
The debate seems to be about the people who abuse the system not the ones who need the system
Val & Frank
Frank your reply to Ria about abusing the system is a little ambiguous. Do you mean abusing the blue badge car parking spaces as the original posting intimated or are you saying that some people abuse the disability system and thereby milking the country illeagally. I know of a chap who has a mobility car and has been registered disabled for years with a back problem. However he has been captain of the local golf club on numourous occassions and plays golf at least three, maybe more, times a week.
If your abusing the system you know you are !!!
And you should be proven guilty as charged .
Frank
And you should be proven guilty as charged .
Frank
This is such an interesting topic. I'm going to have my knee whipped off and replaced this year so I'll be applying for a disabled parking badge at some point. however, my bone of contention is with the Parent and Baby spaces. I have 3 kids, and 18 month old, a 4 year old and a 7 year old. I need to use the baby spaces because I have to open the doors wide to get the 2 smaller ones out of their car seats. Why do supermarkets put these spaces so close to the store - I don't need to be near the store, I just need a wider bay. If they were further away they wouldn't be open to abuse from lazy gits who can't be bothered to walk. My hubby (Jon, I'm posting under his ID - I'm Kelly, Hi!) is a cantankerous bleeder who regularly confronts non-child owners who park in these bays and who, in turn, is regularly met with a barrage of abuse and foul language (luckily he is not only cantankerous but also large and blessed with a truly masterful command of profane english!)Disabled bays near the store I understand, baby spaces? put them further away - having kids is only financially crippling!!
This is where we differ Kelly as one becomes disabled through, in the majority of cases, no fault of their own whereas parents have children, again in the majority of cases, through their own doing. I therefore can see the need for helping disabled people but for a able and fit parent to expect help in the form of larger parking bays for their own doings beats me. If they struggle with prams/pushchairs/etc. why not leave the children at home and one parent shop whilst the other is at home baby sitting. Or alternaitvely have a child minder/babysitter/grand parent to look after the child/children.
I agree with Kelly. Why don't they put a number of disabled or blue badge bays near to the entrance and then put some further away.
Do the same with parent and child bays, put a number close to the door and then put some further away. I bet there would not be the abuse there is now.
What I would say though, if you are going to put parent and child bays and disabled or blue badge bays further away from the store, DON'T out them next to each other because it seems that the parent and child bays seem to be used by people with and with blue badges and the disabled spaces are just abused by everyone. Well I guess at the end of the day, all these bays are being abused to some extent so it goes back to the same old thing. There needs to be a way of policing these bays.
There is a need for bays for both parties, some near the door and some not so near.
Maybe this is a suggestion for super markets that will save a lot of hassle for a number of people.
It is good to see the different opinions and problems that people have come up against with going to do something that should be so simple, going along to a store to get essentials to get on with everyday life.
Regards
Dougy
Do the same with parent and child bays, put a number close to the door and then put some further away. I bet there would not be the abuse there is now.
What I would say though, if you are going to put parent and child bays and disabled or blue badge bays further away from the store, DON'T out them next to each other because it seems that the parent and child bays seem to be used by people with and with blue badges and the disabled spaces are just abused by everyone. Well I guess at the end of the day, all these bays are being abused to some extent so it goes back to the same old thing. There needs to be a way of policing these bays.
There is a need for bays for both parties, some near the door and some not so near.
Maybe this is a suggestion for super markets that will save a lot of hassle for a number of people.
It is good to see the different opinions and problems that people have come up against with going to do something that should be so simple, going along to a store to get essentials to get on with everyday life.
Regards
Dougy
good point, I never thought of it like that. Expanding on your theory, why provide help at the tills packing bags? If you can't pack all the shopping yourself you should buy less and stop being so greedy. In fact, why provide trolleys? If you can't carry your purchases in your arms you should shop at a cash and carry. Good point. I'll take myself and my kids off to a hill somewhere, away from the rest of society so as not to inflict them on anyone. I didn't invent parent/baby parking bays and I didn't ask for them to be provided, they are installed at supermarkets as a courtesy to customers, my point was that, since they are provided and roundly abused, they should be sited away from the store entrance - freeing up space mearer the front door for, say, disabled bays - a win-win situation I'd have thought. I don't ask for any help with my kids, they are, as you pointed out, here by my own choice, I was just suggesting a way around the fact that people abuse facilities laid on by, in this case, supermarkets.
Kelly from your reply it appears that I may have offended you, should this be the case please accept my appologies as this was not my intention at all. I do however think you have expanded the point to the extreme. My wife and I now have two grand children of comprehensive school age. We do go to Tesco twice a week for both our shopping and my elderly mother in law, who incidently has a blue badge which I often have in my car. I do not use the badge unless she is with me. I will also agree with you that both the disable bays and parent with toddlers bays were the idea of the supermarket and no-one else. The services you expanded upon as well as the parking facilities are there courtisy of the supermarket and not there as a must. As neither of us, thank God, are disabled and we do not have children with us should we be denied or refuse to use the shopping trolly or help with the packing? As Tesco are continually moving the stock around we also often ask an assistant where certain products have been moved to in order to save us searching. As I previously said these services are provided as an aid to shopping and are not there in tablets of stone. Normal multi-storey car parks in the Bridgend area all have disable bays with free parking but none have parents and toddler bays.
colin, I'm sorry - I just re-read my reply and I do sound like a ranting harpy, I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to sound like some mothers rights eco warrior. I don't have to use the parent bays - if I'm honest, I can manage in a normal bay, of course - like I do in multi-storey car parks etc, it just makes life so much easier when there are wider bays for parents/children. I do stand by my original opinion, that the parent/child bays, where provided, should be moved away from the store entrance - it would solve a lot of issues and hopefully keep everyone happy. I won't move to a hill, I'll take off my hair shirt and I'll stop being so tetchy, it's late, I'm tired, I have a smelly awning to contend with tomorrow and a husband who expects me to do so wearing nothing but a skimpy stripper costume - please bear with me and accept my apologies for sounding off!
Parksy
Moderator
You'd have much more fun if he did the awning in the skimpy stripper costume. It wouldn't half get done quick!
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