I am pleasantly surprised......

I've tackled people too about parking in disabled spaces but have been completely ignored. As though I was actually invisible.
Abuse of the blue badge system annoys me intensely and I do have to try to remember that disability is not always visually obvious.

You are of course quite right london. Being a total busybody, I have harangued people without blue badges for parking in a disabled space – quite often successfully, but then I am large and loud.

nanpug my husband was in a wheelchair and had a blue badge .we never seemed to get spaces near the shops ,and i used to push up steep ramps .a do think some people abuse disable spaces .thats just what i think .

Oooh! Haven't been to Bluewater since last April when we moved away - how I miss it! Glad you had such a good time nanapug. Parking there is horrific at Christmas but as I remember, in the multistory part there is lots of room to just pull in outside the doors into the shopping centre. Perhaps your DD could stop just long enough to disgorge you and you can sit holding court in your wheelchair while she goes off and parks. As long as nobody runs off with you of course! Though you should be fairly easy to spot with a bright blue leg

I spoke to the "people" at Bluewater about parking, and although they were very helpful and agreed that it was an issue, especially over the Christmas period, they actually have nothing to do with the parking. Apparently the parking people are very hot on blue badges (rightly so). I have decided to try to contact these people and talk to them but I am not holding my breath. As with so many things, because of some wretched people taking the proverbial with so many things in life, genuine people suffer.
OT I have had my plaster changed today and have a bright blue one!!

A few years ago I had a very bad chest infection that made it very difficult to walk. I phoned ASDA before I went shopping and explained that I needed to park as close to the store as possible and asked if I could use a blue badge space. They were lovely and told me to put a note on the windscreen and tell the security guard when I arrived.

It might be worth trying that.

When I was walking with a stick for a year before my new hip, I researched blue badges and found that in Scotland there was this provision for the temporarily disabled, but not in England, but I don't know if this still applies. I don't see why this shouldn't be available.

I agree with the idea of a temporary blue badge and perhaps they could be issued to genuine cases by hospitals or doctors. My sister , who does not drive, has now obtained a badge to use when I am visiting her.

That is heartening, nanapug that people are so nice. But it makes me think what I've thought before when escorting people who are temporarily mobility impaired - it would be helpful if there was some way of getting a temporary blue badge equivalent. I suppose there's so much abuse of the blue badge and of disabled parking that it would just be a nightmare.

Well that restores your faith in human nature doesn't it nanapug? How very nice. I hope the tendon heals up as quickly as possible.

Hope you'll soon be hopping along under your own steam soon nanapug. It's heartening to know that there are genuine people 'out there' isn't it