Asda comes down hard on parking cheats

[Shutpa]

Your memory's going Softus

In retrospect, I don't have the medical qualifications to say that. That being the case I'll just say that you were being repetative.

 

[Rider]

Take your point about parents with kids not being near entrance, but surely you are not saying that disabled spaces should located away fronthe entrances, are you!
If you are, I'll bet that you have never pushed a wheel chair much, particularly with a disabled adult in the seat.
Also you will find that the disabled spaces are not wider , its just the parents with kids spaces that are wider, so that they can get the young children out in their carry cots etc.

Some comment on that since it seems the opposite of what I wrote .

It's true that the actual bays aren't any wider than standard sized parking spaces but quite a large area is left either side of each car to allow for swinging the doors wide open. It's necessary to do this in order to get a wheelchair next to the car doors and transfer from the car seat to the chair (or vice versa). The space allowed for parking and getting in/out of the car is wide, rather than the space marked out for stopping the car.

I have pushed an adult around in a manual chair (and still do sometimes) but I'm fit and find it fairly easy. I suppose there are many carers who aren't though. I can see that some would need to park near the shop entrance in order to keep pushing distances to a minimum. Some wheelchair users are able to look after themselves pretty well but might still need the advantage of being close to the shop. There are wheelchair adapted shopping trolleys but life still isn't easy for them. Also, being close to the entrance avoids having to dodge car park traffic. It's often not easy to get out of the way of a car quickly when a wheelchair is involved.

We have the luxury of a rather zippy power chair and so it wouldn't matter to us if the wider area parking spaces were away from the entrance. If fact, we'd welcome some away from the cash machines and the motorists who are only popping in the shop for a minute and think using a disabled space is OK (just when we're driving by sometimes ). I suppose your point of view on the location of spaces would depend on personal circumstances. Maybe some disabled parking bays could be moved away from the entrance. Those who are disabled but not in a wheelchair may not need wide spaces at all but still need to be near the entrance for various mobility or respiratory reasons.

We can't use standard spaces because there's no room to swing the doors open. If the disabled parking bays are all occupied. I have to stop the car to get everything organised with the wheelchair and then pull into a standard space. This can sometimes cause an obstruction for 2 - 3 minutes (I have to hoist the power chair out of the tailgate - it weighs 15 stones) but there's little else I can do. This might happen again when we need to get back into the car.

 

[notb665]

If you are, I'll bet that you have never pushed a wheel chair much, particularly with a disabled adult in the seat.

I pushed my wife's Nan, who was very overweight, in her specially adapted and widened wheelchair around Blackpool for a day (in the rain) trying to find a hotel that could accomodate her. In and out of the car, up and down lifts, then got to be on the ground floor, trying to fit through doors, "I want a room where I can see the sea" (etc), the works.

I never needed a space close to anywhere - just one with lots of room to get her (and her boyfriend for that matter (also in a wheelchair)) out.

 

[Rider]

My other half has managed to stay fairly slim and lightweight despite the fact she can't take any exercise. So I'm fortunate in that I can take her weight when necessary. But, yup ..I can see that managing with somebody bigger is going to be difficult. The trouble is that if you're a full-time carer, the problems aren't just for a week or month. It goes on year after year. Things like able bodied motorists parking in disabled bays just makes me shrug my shoulders these days. You can get tired of becoming indignant over the problem.

It's much the same as when cars are blocking footpaths. If we can manage to past we do. If we can't, I'm as nice as pie when I go knocking at people's front doors. I don't want the hassle of bad feeling. Got enough to worry about without all that and we don't want to be forever moaning or complaining.

 

[anobium]

I stand corrected and accept that there are situations where wider spaces are necessary for disabled parking.
Should have known because the number of times I have parked and struggled to get the wheelchair to the passenger door without scratching the car near by.

Rider wrote

It's much the same as when cars are blocking footpaths. If we can manage to past we do. If we can't, I'm as nice as pie when I go knocking at people's front doors. I don't want the hassle of bad feeling. Got enough to worry about without all that and we don't want to be forever moaning or complaining

Couldn't agree with you more, is it me but these days I am seeing more and more people parking on the pavement not just a couple of wheels but all four.
I saw one elderly lady the other day having to walk on the busy road just to get past a white van parked on the pavement.
The police don't seem to bother about it now.
Sometimes I struggle to get past without a wheelchair and I am tempted to at the very least rip their wing mirror back.
Lazy, usually fat, bar stewards

 

[John M]

I find parking restrictions annoying

I recently got to the end of a legal wrangle over me parking "On" a white line & a private car parking firm issuing me with a £60 ticket, it went on & on & on & on (And Bloody Ariston) for over two years ...... In the end I got my fine waived & some money, quite a bit, for aggravation etc etc........ The company concerned got to pay all the court costs lawyer fees & the this's & thats....... If I could only get three or four of those a year I'd give up work