Parking in Disabled Bays -- a growing problem

By Bagheera1

Tue 22 Jan 2008 20:20

Hi, Everyone!

Last week, following advice from the Police, I wrote to the Disability Rights Commission
to express my concerns about the Misuse of Disabled Bays at major supermarkets.
This is a problem which has been getting steadily WORSE (especially recently) in the part
of the country in which I live.

Here follows PART OF the reply I got today.

It's a bit long, but the advice I gor from the Police was to encourage
others to send their letters of complaint to the same place.

The website address is:- englandhelpline@equalityhumanrights.com />and you will be directed to another linked page.

Please think about joining me!!

Paul [aka Bagheera1]

****

Reference 1596790
Thank you for contacting the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Disability Helpline.

Firstly can I apologise for the confusion regarding the closure of the
Disability Rights Commission. The merger of all the equality commissions
into the EHRC was widely publicised by the old DRC however this message may
not have reached every organisation who refer individuals to the Helpline
for advice.

I need to explain that a car park forming part of the supermarket
services would not fall under the jurisdiction of the police regarding
their traffic enforcement powers. As the car park is part of the service it
falls within the responsibilities under Part 3 of the DDA relating to the
duties service providers have.

A disabled parking space is provided as a way of making access to the store
easier. Without the parking bay disabled customers may find parking their
vehicle and getting out their car impossible therefore making the service
impossible or unreasonably difficult to access. The provision of a parking
bay is a reasonable adjustment the store makes.

The point where bays are being abused by non disabled individuals can also
make the service impossible to access. I will give an example.

If a disabled individual with a mobility impairment arrives at a shop and
finds all the disabled parking bays are in use then they may have to find a
space which could make leaving their car impossible.

If it is seen that a number of the bays specially designated for use for
disabled drivers are being abused by non disabled drivers then an argument
arises where the bays are not being policed correctly.

The stores policy to not police the bays correctly has resulted in the
abuse from non disabled drivers. The duty that the store has is to make a
reasonable adjustment to their policy, practice and procedure to prevent
the abuse of the bays and to make access easier for disabled individuals.

The store has to consider what is reasonable for them.

I am not an expert on parking law and the powers of enforcement a service
provider has. You may need to obtain further advice either legally or from
the Department of Transport on what can be done.

The duty however is to make whatever adjustment they can reasonably do.

For the DDA to be triggered a specific incident needs to be highlighted.
This has to be a specific day where the service was impossible or
unreasonably difficult for a disabled individual to access due to all the
spaces being taken with some cars not being disabled drivers.

You have mentioned that some stores have their own delivery drivers abusing
the bays. What may be a reasonable adjustment here could be to instruct the
drivers not to do this and to make sure it is enforced. If the bays are
being used by non blue badge holders it is also a good thing to remember
that not all disabled individuals have blue badges. They may have travelled
in with friends. Under the DDA a blue badge does not mean an individual is
not entitled to park there. The duties are owed to every disabled
individual.

If you are able to identify a specific incident with thorough details and
incident date we will be happy to apply the DDA in its entirety to give you
a good base to forming a constructive and effective complaint.

We need a definite incident date as you have limited time to make a
complaint. Ultimately a disabled individual has 6 months minus one day to
lodge a complaint to a county court.

The law exists for disabled individuals to independently take action using
their rights under the DDA. As the law is already in place under Part 3 of
the DDA and this law requires the individual to take action the EHRC are
not able to investigate and take any action.

Also a public statement is not possible as the commission has limited
resources. Time needs to be spent on identifying other areas of the law
that need testing. As the duties are already in place it is your
responsibility to take action.

We are obviously very happy to advise you on this process and, in some
issues can offer some forms of practical assistance in the form of
conciliation. To do this a definite incident needs to be highlighted and a
potential breach of the DDA identified.

I hope this email has clarified to you the DDA duties and I invite you to
return if you need further assistance.

Kind Regards
Andrew Goldsby
Disability Helpline Advisor