I have a knackered ankle and am registered disable with a blue badge and everything. Today I have been challenged three times by random members of the public.

Parking in Tesco’s disabled bay and a lady says “That is for disabled people”. I say “I know” and put my blue badge on the dashboard. That much I have had a few times and don’t mind. When I got out of the car she was still stood there and said “You don’t look disabled and if you were you wouldn’t be driving that (Mercedes SLK)”

Parking in disabled bay in town and a bloke shouts “Oi, that’s for disabled”. I show my blue badge and get out the car. “Your not f**king disabled in that”. Different car but basically a 2 seat convertible.

The Tesco Local and again “You don’t look disabled mate”. By this time I was feeling a bit sensitive so just said “Thanks” and stuck the blue badge about 2 inches from his face, possibly a little confrontational. The response was suitably blunt “You can buy a blue badge and a flash car but your still a c*nt”. Mercedes again.

Okay, neither car is an Audi or a Skoda but each person specifically mentioned the car. On the previous 2 occasions in the last 3 years since having the blue badge where I have been questioned, both people smiled and apologised when I showed the badge (both times in my pick-up truck).

So, to the great question. What car are us cripples allowed to drive?

So much abuse of the blue badge scheme and so many fake ones, people are just being public spirited.

Anything painted that pale blue.

Stop parking in the disabled spaces then.

Quite simply, whatever you want

They Daily Wail reading NIMBYs were probably pissed off ‘cos they couldn’t park in the disabled spot.

Perhaps they’d prefer you drive an electric shopping thingy instead? I know it’s easy to say, but they really are best off ignored. Karma will surely deal with them*. I’m sure you’d rather be fully functioning and walking from the other side of the car park anyway.

*you could offer to do some electrical work for them 😉

I never, ever get rowdy while driving (you never know if you’re arguing with another Kenneth Noye do you) but I did flip at someone with a blue badge who nicked the last parent and child space (when there were empty disabled spaces) a couple of months back.
If it hadn’t been rememberance weekend, and him about 95 i’d have put him back in his car and made him move – rude little c**t.

As others have said, there is so much abuse of the blue badge scheme that most are either fake or people using someone else’s.

I also think there is a popular misconception that if you are disabled you must be out of work, and therefore drive a motobility Micra.

I saw on old boy wobbling out of Waitrose the other week – legs like crazy-legs crane.
I watched him as he tottered over to a Bentley Mulsane, which was blue-badged up and in a disabled bay.

Berlingo

You would have been perfectly entitled to respond with “Do you know who I am?”

.

I must confess that I was slightly secretly pleased to be challenged as it suggests I look less crippled than I used too. Fusing the ankle seems to have worked, Yay*!

*Right up to the point that I realised the first abuse started while I was still in the car.

Did you ever buy that Maserati?

This looks good:

MrsMC has a blue badge, got it last year, but has been disabled from birth with cerebral palsy affecting her control of her left side. That said, she only gets lowest rate DLA, we met on a charity walk up Ben Nevis and she can ride green routes and easier blues. We were surprised when she was told she qualified, but it’s because she finds it hard to carry stuff any distance.

We hardly ever use disabled spaces as she can walk easier than the OP, but we do if there is no other space available.

Never been challenged, so I think the OP needs to swap his Merc for one of our Skoda’s. He can choose either the Fabia or the Octavia estate. So long as he let’s us keep the steering ball if he doesn’t need it.

I was about to buy the Maserati the morning I snapped my foot of. I decided to earn some brownie points by cleaning the conservatory roof before going and buying the Maserati. Big mistake.

While I was stuck in bed for 6 months recovering I designed my own interpretation of a 1950’s Maserati 300S/450S

that is one of the cars I was parking when questioned.

I regularly take my disabled friend shopping in my Vauxhall vivaro.
Get lots of looks, had a couple of people challenge me when I get out of the drivers side only to shut up when I help my friend out of the passenger side.

I also have a dent high up on the rear panel where someone deliberately whacked it with something while parked in a disabled bay.

We hardly ever use disabled spaces as she can walk easier than the OP, but we do if there is no other space available

Walking is an issue but I did manage 1/3 a mile to the pub for the Thursday night Christmas drinks.

The issue for me is getting in and out of the car. I need the door wide open so I can swivel 90 degrees so both legs are out of the door before I stand up. normal parking spaces don’t allow this and I can’t get out on one leg and then slide the other out like most people.

Disabled means you should be poor and driver a banger? Wtf.

Are these people doctors?

Any car can almost be converted for disabled drivers.

I thought we had courts, police and traffic wardens to uphold parking laws. Not mobs with pitch forks.

I’ve seen lots of dodgy parking, it’s not my job to police it and get verbal or physical abuse or upset someone else.

Don’t worry WCA about 10 years ago I had left my wife in her wheelchair in Homebase as I had realised my wallet was still in our(Motability)Car Mk1 Focus if its important.

Bloke said as I shut the door on the car “you don’t look very disabled”
For once I had a reply,
“Thank’s mate I’m in pretty good shape at the moment. Sadly though my wife’s MS means she can’t walk anymore, so sadly the wheelchair is a bit of a necessity. would you like to meet her?”
He shuffled off pretty quick

Thanks MrOvershoot. I have read some of your other postings. I hope things are hanging together for you.

Wide doorspace is a big factor if you have limited mobility.

Of course, the correct answer when challenged on your disability is to say “I have Tourettes, now **** off!” 😉

I’d love to know how this ‘blue badge abuse’ works given that we’ve been applying for PIP now for seven months and counting.

And if anyone tells you, “you don’t look disabled” it’s legal to hit them with a cricket bat. Trufax.

WorldClassAccident – Member
Thanks MrOvershoot. I have read some of your other postings. I hope things are hanging together for you.

Just about keeping it together, very hard seeing my wife descend into increasing levels of confusion & physical decline. Have managed to drink less but probably not low enough yet.

parkesie – Member
Anything painted that pale blue.

This is very similar to our current car is that OK?

“Thank’s mate I’m in pretty good shape at the moment. Sadly though my wife’s MS means she can’t walk anymore, so sadly the wheelchair is a bit of a necessity. would you like to meet her?”

Good work, I’m stealing that.

MrO – I am having a ‘damp’ January rather than a dry January. If you want a virtual buddy then feel free to email me. Address in the profile. ANYTHING I can do to support, just let me know

[video]http://youtu.be/Ffkb0jwy5v8[/video]

We had a blue badge for my gran after she lost her sight. She used to put on a limp when we used it to make her look “more disabled”.

I once saw Ricky Hatton and his mates park Bentley in a disabled spot in Tesco. He’s an arsehole.

I wouldn’t worry about it, i’ve realised it’s born of ignorance and not worth attempting to debate or explain your situation – although it did use to get me worked up and stressed out for hours afterwards – quite upsetting really as i eventually avoided going out at all but these days (thanks to mates) I’m so over it, i just wave the keys in front of their face and shrug, smile n’ say Jealous?

That doesn’t quite have the desired effect when i step out of my parents Suzuki Alto but if i’m driving my mates B7 RS4 ABT or his partners batshit mental Q7 ABT (ABT-german Audi tuning company) then the look of hatred on their faces cheers me up no end….but i usually end up tripping over a few yards later so i guess they get the last laugh as i try and get up.

Spinal injury btw, no bladder/bowel control (makes things interesting sometimes 😳 ) and i can’t really walk any distance at all as these days my leg strength is laughably shite – my legs drag, spasm/twitch and i fall over so i tend to walk a bit, sit down till they recover then walk a bit more, then sit down….etc

I declined a blue badge but my ziptie crutch rack for the motorbike got me some funny looks. As did occasionally having to get passers by to pick the bike up for me because I’d dropped it trying to park with one working leg 😆

Fannies will be fannies, don’t stress about it.

somafunk – I know just how it feels.
So far chosen not to get the badge as 90% of the time all’s well.
It’s the 10% that gets you – when you don’t expect it to.
last one left me in a hospital bed for two weeks unable to feel anything from the waist down – all I was doing was sat at the kitchen table doing a spreadsheet 😯

You just excelled yourself. (Sorry)

I recommend a walking stick to go with the blue badge. Works for me. Or a Honda Civic. Not sure that Merc is available on the Mobility Scheme though.

hammyuk : Yep, it was the sneery stares along with the abusive Oi…hunchback! comments that really affected me, until i realised that it was just their personal pure ignorance of what constitutes a disability – unless you are in a wheelchair then folk just think you are on the take……….get a badge ffsake…i broke my spine in few places back in 1991 at the age of 19, had two shattered vertebrae removed (T6 +T9) and ribs fused to stabilise my torso so i have enough titanium scaffolding around my spine to build a TI fat bike, it’s left me with quite a pronounced hump on my spine and over 3″ shorter than i was but it’s only in the past 8 years that i’ve been developing problems due to flakes of bone in my spinal cord.

I knew it was coming at some point down the line as it was against all my consultants hopes that i would eventually regain feeling/movement never mind managing to walk out of the spinal unit after 5 months but i was hoping degradation would hit me in old age…..Mmmm – i guess 43 could be considered old age when you are 19? 😀

Get the badge ffsake – you need it 😉

Owning a blue badge is a good excuse to buy an electric bike

Surprised I’m the first to suggest WCA should be driving one of these:

Thankfully I’ve never experienced any hostility or comments. The walking stick is a give away really. Blue Badge is a big big help.

Stop parking in the disabled spaces then.

I’m a troll, fol-de-roll… 🙄
Don’t give in to arse’oles, next time ask them how disabled a blind person looks, then walk off with a stick painted white tapping on the ground just to wind them up. 😉

Maybe I will if theres another episode like the last one. Crutches are now a permanent fixture in whatever I’m driving JIC.
Somafunk – I beat you by two years. 😆
Two months before my 19th – spent 11 months in traction, going from 12.5st to 7.5.
Luckily I left with no metal left in me but various parts that don’t fit quite where they used to, an allergy and plenty of scars.
I f***in walked out of there though – no way was I leaving in a chair.
That is the worst part though – knowing that its degenerating faster than a “normal” person despite the stretches, exercise, physio, etc.

aracer – Member

Surprised I’m the first to suggest WCA should be driving one of these:your not 3rd post in 😉

parkesie – Member

Anything painted that pale blue.

I think the French have a good little poster on their disabled spaces that says something along the lines “Take my space take my disability” or something to that effect

TBH we only use a disabled space as there is enough room in them to roll the wheelchair alongside the car while I lift my wife in/out of the car. Otherwise as long as its not hosing down we don’t mind the push/ride in the wheelchair as its good exercise for me & fresh air for the wife.

I f***in walked out of there though – no way was I leaving in a chair.

Massive props to you hammy – i know what it takes and what you’ve been through – virtual high 5/raise my glass to you.

Ha..Ha – That was exactly my mindset (and prob why i’m so singularly focused or stubborn? to this day)…..after the morning rigmarole of placing me in the wheelchair i wheeled myself into the rehab/gym unit and worked myself into genuine tears of frustration day after day after day, i spent from 10am through to 4pm for months just trying to focus and get my legs to work again till i finally got movement in my big toe, then it spread to my foot, then ankle and after that it seemed to be a matter of weeks till i managed to stand up then take my first few steps. Nothing…absolutely nothing i ever do in my life will ever compare to how i felt after taking those first few very wobbly steps whilst holding onto the bars. Not a single day goes by that i don’t take time to look back and realise just how lucky/privileged i am to be able to live and function the way i do – christ…. i was in an induced coma for 10 days whilst they attempted to stabilise my lungs/ internal bleeding and subsequent damage then life support/intensive care for 4 weeks on an inflatable and self turning bed – the drugs were vicious as i still remember the horrific nightmares that i had.

All character building stuff though eh? 😀 , That’s why everything i’ve done since is my choice, my life and i’ll live it the way i want so stay the **** out and never dare judge me for my choices 😉

Like you i went from a very fit/muscly 11.5 stone (i had just signed a factory kawasaki moto-x deal that had been 10 years in the making and my dream for years 🙁 ) down to fitting into my GF’s size 8 jeans which used to fall off me.

One year after leaving the hospital i had covered over 11000 miles on my bike and i cycled from Kirkcudbright up to the Edenhall spinal unit at mussleburgh (110miles) for my checkup and was met by my consultant in tears of joy – thank you DR Tom Russell – if it wasn’t for his choice words 15 days after my accident of “Look kenny, your spine is ****, i can’t promise anything but i’d like to go in with my team and see what we can do – there are very real risks and it will be at least a 13hr operation as we have to open you up from the back and front but there is a chance – needless to say i told him to get on with it.

I may have paraphrased there but he did actually say **** 😀 , still friends with him and his family to this day.

Well at least you bleed the right colour 😉

I was very, very, very lucky that they didn’t need to open me up other than to “hoover out” debris from L4/5 – the vertebra exploded outwards away from my spinal column.
The rest was all external to stop me/bits moving – literally stop anything moving. They screwed me to the bed and then hung 70kgs off the pins through my broken ankles.
5 days gone – apparently I was quite happily having an argument in resus over my leathers up until the point I died for the third time 😳
Oddest thing was the nurse working on me and keeping me alive was in the year below me at school and turned out had a crush on me! She crushed 3 of my ribs too!
Rehab was fairly quick once they let me up after the first 9 months – then those last 2 months where traction overnight with physio all day, every day whilst eating anything I could.
I’ve been so, so lucky over the years to suffer only really with chronic pain – I say “only”. Many have far more debilitating injuries.
This last episode though really was a scare – there was absolutely no warning until went to move my legs and couldn’t. Well in hindsight there was the evening before but we’ve all had a dead leg from sitting on the loo for too long haven’t we…. just ending up upside down in the bath wasn’t what I expected standing up 😳

The BBC designed something suitable a couple of years ago.