Domestic Disabled parking spaces

[manwithvan]

Before I begin... I don't at all begrudge facilities provided for disabled people.

I would not at all wish myself in their shoes.

But here's where my concern begins. There is a marked disabled parking space outside one of the houses on my road and I assumed, like you would, that a disabled person must live at that house. I have seen this person on a few occasions get in and out of his car with a walking stick and thought nothing of it. However, since changing my hours of work, I have noticed on several occasions the same gentleman walking quite perfectly unaided down the street and returning later in the evening somewhat inebriated. I can only assume he's been to the pub some 200 yards away.

Surely, if he can walk that distance to a pub, he can walk from a parking spot to his house?

There's an old guy who lives opposite, who also drives but does not have a disability parking spot. He often has to catch is breath, even before reaching his garden gate.

Somehow, this doesn't seem right to me.

Do disabled people have to pay for the disability parking spaces outside their home? Would the old guy be entitled to one? If he is, but doesn't know he is, I wouldn't mind nudging him in the right direction.

As for the other guy - I'm not sure, but would welcome your comments.

[HeadingNorth]

I looked into this when we moved to Sheffield, just over a year ago, because my wife has a disabled parking permit.

 

 

It costs £130 to have a disabled bay painted outside your house (unless the price has gone up since last May...) Presumably, if you move into a house which already has one outside, it stays there unless you ask the council to remove it.

 

The bay is not legally enforceable. Anybody can park in it. In practice, hardly anybody ever will unless they are legitimately disabled, because at some point in the past, someone clearly felt they needed it badly enough to fork over money and have it painted.

 

Even if it were legally enforceable, such a bay is not restricted to the person who requested it. It would merely require that anyone parking in it had a disabled parking permit. The guy living opposite can use it just as much as they guy living next to it. Or, indeed, the woman two doors down, or anybody else.

[manwithvan]

I'm not sure what he has in the form of badges etc but will ask him. I've known him for years and its heartbreaking to see him go downhill like this so anything I can do to help him I will.