Disabled parking permits

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170567#Comment_121170567

You are rightly annoyed about people abusing the blue badge system.

However that does not give you the right to police the system personally.

You have no agency to accost citizens and question them.

Mr Q

It's €35 for two years. Are people seriously talking about that aspect of it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167138#Comment_121167138

The shopping trolley can actually beca great “aid” to a lot of people with mobility issues and can increase the distance able to be negotiated. As I have ataxia with the ms I find the trolley a real bonus and leave the stick in it along with bags and shopping.,Have heard a lot of people like me say the same, also my mother used the supermarket trolley to great effect too and she could go a much greater distance with it.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170848#Comment_121170848

If I need to use a space that is being abused by a vehicle with no permit I have every right to pull them on it. I've prepaid to use it and I've often had to return home because some ill mannered scrote is abusing the space.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170563#Comment_121170563

The disabled toilet thing is pretty awful if one if challenged. In your situation there it was most appropriate to use it as it is with others in various circumstances. My mobility issue is now very visible, but before that I’ve had a stoma where a disabled toilet is sometimes the one that has to be used as it contains a washbasin for hygiene, and a table or ledge to put stoma management supplies. I’ve had no problem telling people why I need to use it, but I wish pre used would, like in Japan and sone other places, put a stoma symbol also on the door as a means of indication that use of facility is not exclusive to people confined to a wheelchair.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170567#Comment_121170567

look if you want to pretend to be a traffic warden and go around finger wagging god bless, it’s still none of your business, but anyway.

Honestly I could argue by your logic as a working tax paying citizen I can go into the emergency dept of my local hospital and question people who look like they’re not sick enough for emergency care. Sure I’m a taxpayer I fund this hospital so I do.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170950#Comment_121170950

Questioning if someone is sick or not is nothing to do with the abuse of a disabled parking space.

It's very simple. If you do not have a permit you do not have the right to use the space.

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170979#Comment_121170979

Questioning someone using a space with no badge on display is one thing, but questioning someone on whether the badge displayed is theirs, crosses a line.

It could be someone (such as the poster above who takes his mother to hospital appointments) who is transporting or waiting to collect a badge holder. While doing so, they are also allowed to park and wait for the badge holder in a disability space.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170950#Comment_121170950

🤣 There’s a whole lot of that very thing goes on surreptitiously by the glance of an eye in A&E; had my only bit of fun over 15 hours in a chair (before getting a trolley, then a bed) wryly observing human behaviours. You could see eyes glance around silently asking “what’s up with him, he doesn’t look sick! He’s taking up tine & space for little reason! Does he actually enjoy coming to A&E for a picnic?” Heard some low whispers, but it was the observable following of eyes & ears trying to find out the merit of their attendance. One guy made the point quite indignantly “I arrived by ambulance, I should get seen to ahead of the others who didn’t and I should be lying down not sat bolt upright here in a waiting room”.

Human judgement is always rife when competing for more limited resources.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170979#Comment_121170979

That is indeed very plain, you have if you haven’t a permit, and there is actually nobody official effectively policing these spaces, although I have seen reports in Garda traffic twitter where they’ve caught the odd abuser.

A question some are asking here is about the merit on which sone were issued, which has been addressed by various posters. But it would be very galling indeed if a legit permit holder was seen walking swiftly unaided and easily past a person experiencing ongoing difficulties with mobility and who had found themselves denied in their application.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171073#Comment_121171073

While I agree with you to some extent a genuine person should have no problem as it is in our best interests to deter the abusers.

I spoke to a man before with no permit going into a chipper. His reply was he didn't know it was a disabled space after 6pm. How do you reply to that? I was blocking the whole road on one side of a busy town at commuting time and had to sit there until he moved.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170979#Comment_121170979

look if you think you have the right to questions strangers about their entitlement to a badge, I don’t know how to help you.

the part I just can’t get over is this notion you have the right to do so as a pass holder. The fact is like it or not you have no business or right to do so.

you’re not out there making a difference you’re just being a busybody.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171160#Comment_121171160

I'm moving abusers out of the space I need and paid for and am entitled to use. I'm sorry if you don't understand this. Perhaps you don't have a permit or have not experienced the difficulties when these limited spaces are abused.

vectra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170923#Comment_121170923

I think you are over dramatising the situation there.

Just because the blue space is taken up doesn't mean there isn't a single empty space anywhere else you could park in.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171175#Comment_121171175

You have seriously misunderstood the system if you think you paid for the spaces or indeed the use thereof.

What you paid for was administrative fees for processing your application and printing your badge. You haven’t suddenly earned the exclusive use of the spaces, never mind paying for them.

So you harass people with some perceived right to do so while also thinking you lease the spaces for two years at a rate of €35…

give me strength

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171253#Comment_121171253

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171271#Comment_121171271

If there is more than one disabled space I will park in an empty space. The only problem that may arise is if there is only one space like in many towns and it is being abused by someone with no permit.

Anyone who has no issue with these spaces being abused are part of the problem.

Raichu I am well aware of the ins and out and rules of the scheme, I had to be poked and prodded and jumped through enough hoops to get a permit. Likewise when we are shopping and I stay in the car we use a normal space out of good manners even though the rules allow us to occupy a disabled space.

Baybay

Reading over some of the comments here, I wonder if people like me are partially to blame. My father was a blue badge holder for about ten years before he died. He had emphysema. A lot of days when we were out, he didn’t look ill but walking, even short distances, could exhaust him. Frequently people could see me, if they were bothered, sprinting back to the blue badged car in the disabled spot, me jumping in & rushing off to collect him from where he’d have had to sit, simply not having the breath to make it back to the car. It never occurred to me at the time, but I’m sure I must have got some funny looks!

Eldudeson

If the badge is there, the badge is there. It's not up to anybody here to question it's legitimacy.

If there's no badge there and it's an audi or bmw, well we've all seen that 😏

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171128#Comment_121171128

What happens if you ask someone "is that your badge?" and they say "yes it is?"

Do you take their word for it or ask to see the photograph on the back?

To be honest, I am a user, and I honestly don't think I'd appreciate being questioned by anyone other than a traffic warden or a Gardaí.

I certainly wouldn't be taking my badge out of the holder, to prove to some random guy on the street that I am entitled to use the space.

And as mentioned earlier, when someone transporting or collecting a badge holder, they can legitimately use a disability space, even though their photo will not be on the badge.

I'd leave the policing of badges, to the Gardaí or traffic wardens who have the authority to ask to inspect the badge.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173351#Comment_121173351

Exactly. I had a do gooder flashing his parking permit at me and demanding to see mine . Follow alot of cursing on my part

Ezeoul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121172836#Comment_121172836

No doubt, Baybay, you got some funny looks alright!

But your post goes to show that you never really can tell what might be going on, so shouldn't jump to conclusions based on appearances alone.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121172738#Comment_121172738

No one said (or even implied) agreement with abusing the spaces.

that said there’s an almost unanimous agreement that interrogation of people on the street regarding their eligibility is wrong and should be left to the proper authorities.

vectra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121172738#Comment_121172738

You seem to be missing my point.

If the only disabled spot is legitimately being used, then why would you not just park on the street and display your badge?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173668#Comment_121173668

I really think there ought to be an optional extra sticker/badge stating that driver is driving permit holder to explain broadly differing situations. Something like “Driver designated by Permit Holder”’

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173914#Comment_121173914

It should ,if you're not a garda or traffic warden I'm not going to explain to you or anyone else why have one .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121174926#Comment_121174926

Yeah, that’s sort of my whole argument

Demonique

Just because you have sour grapes about not getting a badge doesnt mean other people are faking

Demonique

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167138#Comment_121167138

Using a trolley doesnt count as walking unaided

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121586462#Comment_121586462

What's your point? My own mother can't seem to get rid of vertigo and holds a trolley to steady herself but it doesn't entitle her to a permit.

And based on my post you quoted plenty of people walk kms around the store without a trolley.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121169984#Comment_121169984

Am I right in thinking that there's no way for anyone, other than a Garda or parking warden, to validate in any whether the person parking with a blue badge is actually entitled to be parking with a blue badge.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121166346#Comment_121166346

It's not just about the payment machine though. It opens up the possibility of regular, even daily parking in an on-street parking bay. I see one such vehicle parked most days at a particular spot near me. I suspect that the blue badge is being abused, but I've no way to confirm this.