BLUE BADGE BAY

sally14

OK, i know this has been covered once or twice (!) as i have popped in and out of this forum over the past few years, but grrrrrrr...i was pulling up at a supermarket, found a BB bay, parked, when the occupants in the car in the bay next to me stared over at me....and they kept on staring and turning to eachother, nodded then stared again, it was only a matter of 1 or 2 mins then it dawned on me...of course...silly me.....i'm 41 years old so i OBVIOUSLY can't possibly have anything wrong with me that would warrent needing a disabled bay....oh no....you officially have to be in the OAP catagory to have the right to park in one of these bays....well, after the umpteenth stare and nod i got my blue badge out from its lovely pink holder and slammed it, with my wonderful picture facing them, against my driver window, stared at them, nodded, got out and hobbled into Tescos....why is it, and i am sorry to say it is ALWAYS the older generation that i have this problem with, why is it they think all of us under the age of 65 cant possibly have anything worng with us?? grrr makes me so very angry...ok, rant over!!! :roll: ...Sally.

tjt6768

oh boy am I with you on that one Sally..
Drives me mad.. I'm just waiting for one person to dare say anything to me...
What makes me laugh is you can bet your backside that there are so many older folks that have it simply cos they're old... The ones that have no difficulty walking,.our mowing the lawn every sunday, washing the car... Every sunday.. Jesus, what I wouldn't give to be able to do crap like that...
Can't remember the last time I was fit enough to wash the car, and week after week, not a chance...
I get it all the time, the dirty looks. Especially as I am usually in that much pain that I wait in the car while Janet goes in.. I look fit and healthy looking inside the car.. What they can't see is the fact I need sticks or crutches to get anywhere.. And my hands are buggered so it is a huge problem for me.. My hands are not quite at the point where it's impossible to give the finger yet though :green

jillyb1

Know what you mean too , happens to me all the time even now that I am also an old git . Once had an old man bang on the car window when we parked and demand to know why I have a badge " when it's not needed " . Hubby and I didn't say a single word , just looked right through him and calmly continued getting my wheelchair out of the boot and then , me into said chair . He almost fell over grovelling ; that was when we spoke and made it clear where he could put his apologies ! Jillyb

hileena111

I've read all the threads about this sort of thing and must admit....I'm lucky in that respect....Never had anyone do that to me....they might think it but never glare or say anything...Maybe its because I'm 65
The first time someone would dare to say anything to me ....thats when they would get an answer back.....They shouldnt be allowed to get away with it. I suppose if they just glare and dont say anything theres not much you can do but glare back
Love
Hileena

frogmorton

Poor you :sad:

Doesn't matter that you know you are in the right.

Still leaves a nasty taste in your mouth and a bad feeling in your stomach :sad:

Love and HUGS

Toni xx

nanasue

OMG!!!! This happens to me all the time. I'm 57, but without seeming to be boasting I actually look about 47 (some people even think my 9 year old grandson is my son!!!), they look at you like you shouldn't be there and wait for you to put your badge up. I'm waiting for the day when someone dares to say something, do they really think I wouldn't give anything not to park there. Love Tony's answer about the finger.
On another note has anyone ever noticed that a lot of people who use mobility scooters are overweight smokers? Self inflicted. I'm not overweight and never smoked but because of my illness sometimes need to use one, get stared at then as well. Perhaps we should all wear signs!!! Have the same problem with people staring as grandson has ADHD and his behaviour can be challenging at times, they obviously think he's just badly behaved. I would never stare or challenge people because you don't know anything about them or their problems and anyway it's just bad manners, but definitely right about it being older people. Sorry about the rant, but as you can see it's something that really bugs me.

Sue x

claircoult

I'm 36, I've had a Blue Badge for years and I've had the same experience too. What irks me the most is often the people doing the staring hop out of the car with apparent easy and saunter into the shops at a good pace whilst I struggle to get out of the car and hobble along with my walking stick to my mobility scooter or wheelchair. And they think I'm the one who shouldn't have the badge? *rolls eyes*

I have been stared at when we're in the car with the kids and park in the disabled bay. People think we're only parking there because the parent and child spots are all full up but I have noticed a few guilty looks whe they see my husband get the scooter out of the boot...

dreamdaisy

I don't know if anyone stares at me or not, I'm normally busy turning off the engine, digging out the badge, setting the clock and swinging the sticks around inside the car in preparation for opening the door, but even if they do I'm not bothered. Everyone makes instant judgements about other people, including us. DD

barbara12

Hi Sally
Im 61 and a few weeks ago my and OH were approached by a red faced man...we were parking in a bay...its takes me forever to get in the car, so obviously this man was parked up waiting for one to come free, and was really annoyed at me, his words were do you have a blue badge..eh yeah what is that in the window...oh he said I have been waiting here 10 mins....well red rag to a bull....and yes I did take longer then usual...they seem to think that if they are older than you they should get priority
Wonder if there is such a thin has blue badge wars...

bertyboy

the thing that erks me is when you get people abusing the bb bays , and when you complain to the right quarters they remove them , to further in to the carpark instead of getting the offenders done that were sat in the bookies or picking chips up , we cant have business's like that loosing out , there are double yellow lines just across but we don't like doing that sort of parking

elainebadknee

Hi

I can understand your rant but it not your problem its the other person so why stress about it if youve got a badge? If someone came up to me and asked me what the problem was id ask if I knew them, if not id ask them to move on thank you, any other correspondence would either be an apology from them or a polite request from myself to them to leave me alone.....Its when you aint got the BB you need to bother, otherwise display and dont heed any notice to others!!!!

Elainex

sally14 wrote:

OK, i know this has been covered once or twice (!) as i have popped in and out of this forum over the past few years, but grrrrrrr...i was pulling up at a supermarket, found a BB bay, parked, when the occupants in the car in the bay next to me stared over at me....and they kept on staring and turning to eachother, nodded then stared again, it was only a matter of 1 or 2 mins then it dawned on me...of course...silly me.....i'm 41 years old so i OBVIOUSLY can't possibly have anything wrong with me that would warrent needing a disabled bay....oh no....you officially have to be in the OAP catagory to have the right to park in one of these bays....well, after the umpteenth stare and nod i got my blue badge out from its lovely pink holder and slammed it, with my wonderful picture facing them, against my driver window, stared at them, nodded, got out and hobbled into Tescos....why is it, and i am sorry to say it is ALWAYS the older generation that i have this problem with, why is it they think all of us under the age of 65 cant possibly have anything worng with us?? grrr makes me so very angry...ok, rant over!!! :roll: ...Sally.

sally14

Thanks for all the replies, I think it is safe to say that no matter what our age someone somewhere is going to give us all a funny look at some time because they are obviously more deserving of the bay than we are....and yep, you're right, we all shouldn't worry if they are low enough to give us a "look", we know we are in the right, we know we warrant the use of the bay, so let them look, let them stare.....i hope everyone has a good weekend that is free of pain, wrap up warm too peeps as its chilly out there...well it is in Sussex any hoo...take care all.xx

arthrituscarerto2

I agree with you the amount of times My wife and me have been challenged in a supermarket by old people my step son has an unknown genetic condition so he looks disabled but you still get the old people who can walk actually walking over and giving me and my wife who is in a wheel chair sometimes or on crutches a mouth ful. I think you should just not get a blue badge cause your old there should be a proper medical reason for it. They see i am quite well my wife looks ok and so does step son but they dont know the issues.

stickywicket

No-one gets a Blue Badge just because they are old. There has to be a medical reason though it does seem as if some councils give them out more readily than others.

I’ve been using Blue Badges since they were Orange Stickers (I was about 30 then and I’m 65 now) and I’ve never noticed anyone looking quizzically at me. Some medical conditions look perfectly normal – a very healthy-looking friend had one for severe heart problems - so it's pointless to judge by appearances, though I'm prepared to make exceptions to that rule for anyone, young or old, who leaps out of the car & sprints into the store.

I don’t see that it matters one bit if perfect strangers think badly of us or misjudge us. That’s all they are – strangers who know nothing about us. If, on the other hand, someone who knows me well, whose opinion I value thinks badly of me I will take it very seriously indeed and question myself as to whether they may be right.

But total strangers? Nah.

liesa

ha ha ha this happens all the time to me, have had my badge for over 20 years and now just 51 have always got the 'look' but i do find myself looking at some people these days, but then some you cant see their disabilities so i just try to mind my own...lol either that or get a punch on the nose...lol

SteveBurns

What annoys me more is tradesmen who park their white van in the BBbay 'cos it's nearest to their work area.

Also staff who find all other parking spaces full so they use the BBbay as well.

I work and stay overnight in hotels and whenever I find BBbay abuse I report it, occasionally gets people moved, much to their disgust. Photos of an employee parking there and skipping off to work seem to do the trick.

hileena111

Slightly different but along the same lines.
When you said tradesmen and white vans....the other thing they do is park on drop down kerbs....which means when i'm on my scooter I might be able to get off one side of the road but cant get across and up the other becasue of their thoughtlessness. They should clamp down more on that as well
Sorry thats a bit off topic
Love
hileena