What’s in store for Blue Badge holders?

A problem faced by many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination, especially at their local supermarket. A major complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge. Disabled Motoring UK’s annual Baywatch campaign seeks to address this by researching the level of disabled parking abuse at supermarkets, by asking disabled motorists to survey their local supermarket car park.

Heidi Turner, DMUK’s director of communications and campaigns, says: “Baywatch is one of the charity’s longest running campaigns and is really important to draw attention to the parking problems that disabled people face when just trying to do their everyday grocery shopping. DMUK is pleased with the positive response it gets from its members, the public and organisations. Last year was our best campaign yet with record numbers of participants.”

Baywatch sees participants count how many disabled bays are provided and how many cars are parked in them without displaying a Blue Badge. The other information DMUK asks for is details of the type of enforcement (if any) carried out by the parking operator responsible for the car park. Details of the operator and enforcement should be displayed on the signage near the disabled bays.

The Baywatch campaign is supported by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who says: “It’s so sad that Disabled Motoring UK has to run its Baywatch campaign. Disabled bay enforcement should be mandatory, especially for the big supermarkets that can afford to invest in policing their car parks. I see disabled parking abuse every day, it’s never a surprise to me, including at my local supermarket. There is a real lack of understanding about how essential these bays are to disabled people and I applaud DMUK’s Baywatch campaign as it plays a vital role in highlighting the issue of disabled parking abuse at supermarkets.”

In the light of COVID-19, DMUK has decided to change the format of Baywatch in order to keep the campaign’s supporters safe. “This year’s campaign launched in March with a great response from supporting organisations and its main sponsor, the British Parking Association (BPA). However, this was before the world was swamped by the coronavirus pandemic. Even though many areas of the UK are seeing a decrease in infections and deaths from coronavirus, and the government is easing lockdown restrictions, DMUK has decided that it is not appropriate to ask individuals to physically go to a supermarket car park and count cars not displaying a Blue Badge that are parked in disabled bays.

“This could put participants in a position where they find it harder to social distance and we would never ask people to put themselves at an increased risk of catching the virus. Instead we will be running a survey during August which participants can complete without leaving their home.

“The 2020 survey will provide us with really useful data to keep the pressure on the supermarkets to do more to manage their disabled parking bays properly. Disabled motorists face parking problems in all aspects of their life and the new survey will also encompass some more general parking questions which will expand the scope of the DMUK Baywatch campaign.”

DMUK will ask individuals to think back over the past 12 months to consider their general parking experience and ask them to answer questions about this experience at supermarkets and on their everyday journeys. DMUK intends to use this data to tackle the supermarket chains and other parking providers over their disabled parking policies.

The survey will be printed in the August issue of Disabled Motoring magazine and an online version will be accessible via DMUK’s website www.disabledmotoring.org

“DMUK hopes that by August 2021 we will have the pandemic long behind us and we can run our usual Baywatch campaign,” says Turner.

Parking sector supports Baywatch

Baywatch is made possible by support from a range of organisations, with the British Parking Association (BPA) once again being lead corporate sponsor for 2020.

Kelvin Reynolds, BPA director of corporate and public affairs, says: “We wholeheartedly support DMUK’s annual Baywatch campaign. With one in every five disabled parking bays being misused at supermarkets, this campaign is a great way to raise awareness of the importance of only using disabled bays if you are a Blue Badge holder. We encourage as many people as possible to participate in the survey.”

Campaign supporters include AccessAble, Disabled Living, Honest John, Independent Living, Phab, Posability Magazine and RiDC.

Besides corporate sponsorship, the charity has been raising funds from individuals. DMUK launched its Baywatch Appeal in October as a way of raising additional funds to support the charity’s campaigning efforts. Since its launch the charity has raised an extra £5740.58 in added donations.

Heidi Turner, DMUK’s director of communications and campaigns, says: “We understand that many people are under financial pressures at this time and ideally the best thing that individuals can do is to fill in the Baywatch survey in August, but if you can help with a donation too that is very much appreciated. Any extra money the charity can raise to support campaigning is so helpful.”

Donations can be made online at: www.disabledmotoring.org