Best way to deal with people who illegally park in disabled spaces?

No, its hard to know when you are looking for a space whether someone is parked legitimately or not and you have more to do than go looking for guards or traffic wardens. I did on one occasion ask a woman who had parked in a disabled space if she had a card - she could easily have been going to fetch someone who was disabled - and she cheerfully said she had. But I looked as I passed the car and there was no card. This was directly opposite a garda station, but I was heading back down to where I had left my husband and didn't have time to make anything of it.

Traffic wardens cannot enforce parking laws in private areas. And Gardai won't do it. It would cause a furore.

If you were a Garda you'd do what your sergeant tells you to do! And they won't be telling you to go down to Dunnes and hand out parking tickets in the car park. I don't even know if the Gardai have power to enforce parking in a private area. I doubt it.

Stupid idea that often gets bandied about. So who is going to administer and pay for it? Look at the waste of it! Crushing good cars for parking in the wrong place. Do you realise the law would have to be changed to allow it? And there is no way in hell TDs would vote for crushing people's cars.

I think you should crush this idea on the spot.

It's a very risky game when smearing shite on door handle that you think is illegally parked in a capper spot. Maybe, just maybe, they have a hidden disability and i'd feel awful if a one legged man had shite all over his hands

This is my predicament. I regularly drive elderly relatives, all in their 90's, sometimes its just to get shopping or sometimes out for lunch. One of my elderly passengers can't walk without a very cumbersome walking frame, a big yoke with a seat built into it, I can just about lift it out of the boot. I sometimes park in the disabled bay just to be able to get her out of the car. I've asked her to apply for a disabled badge but she refuses as she is in denial about her disability. Do you think I'm wrong if I park in the disabled bay?

Its exactly what I expected to hear. However, I know a woman in her 50's whose husband passed away and he had had a disabled badge. After his death she continued to use it herself although she didn't need it. What I'm saying is just because someone has a disabled badge doesn't mean they are disabled and just because someone doesn't have a badge doesn't mean they are not disabled. Its a conundrum.

It's not a conundrum at all. Someone elses misuse does't justify your misuse, it just means 2 less spaces for those that need them. I've been in a situation a few times where I've gone to a shopping centre and have had to come home again because I couldn't get a suitable space - if people are using these spaces when they are not entitled to them then that's downright lousy.

Non issue, of course you should use it. Put "application in post" on window in case some twat decides to damage your car. All people in 90s, their the ones that need it.

Don't park in a place where you can be fined.

Not really surprising that your mind is easily bent.

How to announce to the world that you are in the very privileged position to not need to disabled parking space, and lack all empathy for those that do; A Guide....

That could take hours. People with that level of disability and their carers already have to put their lives on hold because of their disability. Already, everything is much more difficult and takes a lot longer. The person parked in the disability parking spot is the person in the wrong here. What if someone needs to use the bathroom and it takes 5-10 mins to get out of the car? What if sitting for that long in a car causes a lot of pain? The actual reasons why those parking spots are used is not something those who casually use them think about.

The fact you think you have some sort of moral high ground here and that you think the people wanting to use those spaces when they need them is a sense of entitlement, when the rest of us are trying to make the lives of those who are having a rough time a little easier.... that is what's mind boggling. The fact you think someone wanting to be able to live their life as normally as possible and getting annoyed when some self entitled person prevents that is hypocritical, and yet you're the one who feels entitled to tell that person who is already struggling that they should have to stay out of the way for possibly hours so they don't inconvenience you for a few minutes... that is what's mind boggling.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Perhaps you need to read the post you were attacking where that exact scenario is addressed?