Disability Parking questions?

The permit can be used in any car that your mother is a passenger in

at the time the badge is displayed.

My Mam has one too and we change it from car to car depending on who

is carrying her. Like your mother, my mother sometimes drives too so she

puts the badge in her own car when driving it.

Your understanding above is correct, the permit is linked directly to the disabled person with their picture/name on the reverse so as long as they're in the car as driver or passenger the disabled permit can be used. You or a family member without your mother obviously can't use it but the permit can be moved from car to car as needed.

Private car parks have no consistency and most in my experience only offer the conveniently located spots but with no concessions with regards fees. Some do offer free or reduced parking charges but it's in the small print and not always obvious. Often you have to submit your parking ticket to a separate manned booth along with your disabled parking permit details to avail of the concessionary rate rather than submitting it at the regular payment kiosks.

With Dublin airport for instance you have to obtain a PRM (Person Reduced Mobility) code by submitting your disabled parking permit details and then once in possession of that code can pre-book parking at a reduced rate online. However when trying to book that the past couple of years there was no PRM parking availability despite travelling in the off season.

Hospitals I find can be particularly bad, given their nature they're often frequented by disabled patients and there is only a minimal amount of disabled parking available so you're at the mercy of their exorbitant rates.

Well done OP for enquiring if you are doing the right thing with thr blue badge. Too many abuse it. From what you describe, you are doing the right thing

A disability, something most would forego not to have one

lack of mobility

sounds like you're very conscientious about what you can and can't do with the permit so good on you. I've had one for many years as an amputee. It's amazing how i still get looks and even the odd comment from other motorists when they see me get into or out of the car, despite the permit being clearly visible on the dash! 🙄 The privatisation of parking services in many of Dublin's hospitals (I don't know about other cities) has been a real kick in the nuts, either for me having to go in or if visiting a relative. In Beaumont for example I think there's only 2 or 3 public disabled spots near the front entrance. It's a sick joke for an 850 bed hospital with likely many times that in visitors. Sadly you'll get nothing but a standard copy-and-paste reply from the hospital authorities if you complain.

Anyway, all the best to your Mum, may she make a full recovery.

100% agree with this. To the naked eye my dad probably looked fine. And he was still able to drive himself a bit. But any amount of walking over a couple of mins left him with breathing issues because you can't always see the effects of chemo and cancer. I will always challenge someone in a disabled bay who has no blue badge but if they have one, I'm not saying anything to them. Also it's so hard to actually get a blue badge here that if they've managed to be approved for one, they must actually need it. Like my dad - cancer doesn't automatically grant you a blue badge but his doctors had written reports and letters as they felt he'd need it.

Well said, reminds me of this case a number of years ago.

I've questioned numerous people with no blue badge parked in disabled spots (pics in the bad parking thread) but once the car has a badge then they're compliant.

I know someone who has had a badge since they are 18 and has always drived a flash car. Constantly gets abused by strangers for parking in the disabled bay even though he is entitled to do so and has severe back issues