Parking on double yellow lines/disabled drivers?

[Freakuk]

I live in a rural village, lots of cottage/terrace style housing so people are forced to park on the road, I'm lucky enough to have a decent driveway so all of our cars are on the drive.

Recently in the village centre is was getting near impossible to get through due to the number of vehicles being parked everywhere and the double yellow lines were being ignored, new ones were introduced but again ignored... until the police intervened and starting dishing out fines (even made it into the local rag).

Move forward and on my commute literally the next road one side of the street in again all cottage housing with double yellow lines, the other side does have off-street parking. Every day on the way to work (7am) and return home (6pm) there's the same car parked on the double yellow lines outside of the same property, I spotted it has a disabled badge on the dash.

I thought there was a time limit, via the dial on the badge that they can park there, clearly they are parking overnight and blocking the flow of traffic. Is this legal?

[davek_964]

Years ago, I had to go somewhere with a disabled person - in my car. Obviously I don't have a disabled badge, but she had exactly the kind of thing you describe with a dial on it and we put that in the car and parked on double yellows.

From memory (which might be wrong, it was almost 6 years ago) - we were only allowed to park on the double yellow lines for 2 hours.

[geeks]

Mrs geeks has a Blue Badge and time wheel, rules are that you can park on double yellows for 3 hours. Anyone parking overnight is ripe for a fine but it is possible the wardens dont know that as they tend to ignore most things with a blue badge on display

[Zetec-S]

Playing devil's advocate for a minute, surely there's an argument that if a road has been marked with double yellow lines, then there must be a reason for it. And if that reason is for, perhaps, safety, then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there, even if they do have a blue badge? Does the blue badge have some sort of mystic aura of safety surrounding it which negates the need for double yellows and makes everything "safe"?

Appreciate as a healthy able bodied person that this comment may make me seem like a bit of an unsympathetic , so I fully expect a bit of a flaming in response. To be clear I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to park on double yellows, but should it really be an "anything goes" approach where you average high street is blocked up with them double parked or obstructing a view?

[geeks]

For what it's worth, I can't think of a single time in the last 11 years we have used it as really there is (almost) always ample parking, on the rare occasion there isn't, I drop her off and then go and park elsewhere and then the reverse when we leave.

I also get what you are saying and can't disagree, but common sense does need to be applied even when you use a blue badge, it's not, as some would have you believe (I include blue badge and non blue badge holders in this), an excuse to park like a tt or wherever the fk you feel like, you can still be ticketed for causing an obstruction even with a blue badge.

[Graveworm]

Zetec-S said:

Playing devil's advocate for a minute, surely there's an argument that if a road has been marked with double yellow lines, then there must be a reason for it. And if that reason is for, perhaps, safety, then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there, even if they do have a blue badge? Does the blue badge have some sort of mystic aura of safety surrounding it which negates the need for double yellows and makes everything "safe"?

Appreciate as a healthy able bodied person that this comment may make me seem like a bit of an unsympathetic , so I fully expect a bit of a flaming in response. To be clear I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to park on double yellows, but should it really be an "anything goes" approach where you average high street is blocked up with them double parked or obstructing a view?

I think if it's unsafe to stop then it should be no loading rather than no parking (Which blue badge holders can't park at)
All of the usual restrictions against leaving a vehicle on an unsafe position, pavement parking, causing unnecessary obstruction or within 10m of a junction unlit at night etc still apply.

[Psycho Warren]

The blue badge exemption for double yellows does not mean they can park in a dangerous position so if they do that, or block the highway they can still be done.

[BertBert]

Zetec-S said:

then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there

What, apart from the law that says they can you mean?

[NGee]

Zetec-S said:

Playing devil's advocate for a minute, surely there's an argument that if a road has been marked with double yellow lines, then there must be a reason for it. And if that reason is for, perhaps, safety, then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there, even if they do have a blue badge? Does the blue badge have some sort of mystic aura of safety surrounding it which negates the need for double yellows and makes everything "safe"?

Absolutely spot on.

If it's not safe to park there then NOTHING should park there.
If it is safe to park there then there shouldn't be yellow lines at all.

Quite happy to see more disabled bays or parking spaces or maybe special places they can park beside the road (maybe marked with blue lines?) but the abuse of yellow lines by some blue badge holders is ludicrously dangerous and should be banned.

[Zetec-S]

BertBert said:

Zetec-S said:

then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there

What, apart from the law that says they can you mean?

No, that's not what I'm saying. I get that the law means they are allowed to park there. My question was that if double yellows are deemed necessary by the local authority, then why does a blue badge all of a sudden negate that requirement?

[geeks]

NGee said:

the abuse of yellow lines by some blue badge holders is ludicrously dangerous and should be banned.

Is it though? Is it really? Also why should the majority suffer for the result of a few tts?

[NGee]

geeks said:

NGee said:

the abuse of yellow lines by some blue badge holders is ludicrously dangerous and should be banned.

Is it though? Is it really? Also why should the majority suffer for the result of a few tts?

If you'd quoted all my post you would have seen that the majority would not have suffered as there would be a lot more disabled parking places (as I said, maybe blue lines.).

It would then be much clearer for blue badge holders as to where they could park without having to decide if their idea of dangerous is the same as the laws' idea.

[Roy the Boy]

geeks said:

Is it though? Is it really? Also why should the majority suffer for the result of a few tts?

Ain't that always the case?

Near me, we've had 30 miles of 4 lane dual carriageway reduced from 60mph to 40mph - because 1 schoolboy decided to not use an overhead pedestrian footbridge and tried running across (unsuccessfully) next to it.
I mean, all sympathy to his parents, but talk about using a hammer to crack a nut!

[Slipperywang]

davek_964 said:

Years ago, I had to go somewhere with a disabled person - in my car. Obviously I don't have a disabled badge, but she had exactly the kind of thing you describe with a dial on it and we put that in the car and parked on double yellows.

From memory (which might be wrong, it was almost 6 years ago) - we were only allowed to park on the double yellow lines for 2 hours.

And they still haven't moved it after 6 years ? Cheesus

[wst]

NGee said:

Absolutely spot on.

If it's not safe to park there then NOTHING should park there.
If it is safe to park there then there shouldn't be yellow lines at all.

Yellow lines are not solely used to prevent parking in dangerous places - and not all places without yellow lines are safe places to park.

[geeks]

NGee said:

geeks said:

NGee said:

the abuse of yellow lines by some blue badge holders is ludicrously dangerous and should be banned.

Is it though? Is it really? Also why should the majority suffer for the result of a few tts?

If you'd quoted all my post you would have seen that the majority would not have suffered as there would be a lot more disabled parking places (as I said, maybe blue lines.).

It would then be much clearer for blue badge holders as to where they could park without having to decide if their idea of dangerous is the same as the laws' idea.

No I read your whole post but at the end you postured that your reasoning is because "the abuse of yellow lines by some blue badge holders is ludicrously dangerous and should be banned." I respectfully disagree that it is "ludicrously dangerous"

Things that are ludicrously dangerous;

Telling a woman that her arse does indeed look big in that
Suggesting to the folks in NP+E that you are a Corbyn supporter
Keeping a pet Tiger
Sweating the small stuff (terrible for the ticker old boy)
Playing golf during a lightning storm

Things that arent;

Parking on Double Yellows with a Blue Badge
Snoozing on the sofa
Not sweating the small stuff
Sitting down to a nice brew
Watching Tiger cubs on YoutTube playing

[gshughes]

Zetec-S said:

Playing devil's advocate for a minute, surely there's an argument that if a road has been marked with double yellow lines, then there must be a reason for it. And if that reason is for, perhaps, safety, then what makes it acceptable for someone to park there, even if they do have a blue badge? Does the blue badge have some sort of mystic aura of safety surrounding it which negates the need for double yellows and makes everything "safe"?

Appreciate as a healthy able bodied person that this comment may make me seem like a bit of an unsympathetic , so I fully expect a bit of a flaming in response. To be clear I'm not saying they shouldn't be able to park on double yellows, but should it really be an "anything goes" approach where you average high street is blocked up with them double parked or obstructing a view?

Safety related double yellows have short perpendicular yellow bars on the kerb (to signify no loading) and disabled badge holders are not allowed to park at these.

[thismonkeyhere]

On a related note, I am tired of seeing car parks full, except for a bunch of empty disabled spaces. I have literally never seen all the disabled spaces full, in fact I've probably never seen more than half of them full.

As a concept I think it's great, but I also think there are too many. Are there rules about how many disabled spaces a public car park should have, or is it owner's/operator's discretion?

[Sticks.]

thismonkeyhere said:

On a related note, I am tired of seeing car parks full, except for a bunch of empty disabled spaces. I have literally never seen all the disabled spaces full, in fact I've probably never seen more than half of them full.

As a concept I think it's great, but I also think there are too many. Are there rules about how many disabled spaces a public car park should have, or is it owner's/operator's discretion?

It probably depends when you go, and how much the're abused when it's busy. I stopped using one supermarket partly because all the BB spaces were always taken. The one I use now (between shopping online) I can guarantee they'll all be taken Thu-Sat mornings, but not afternoons (and probably not evenings, but I've not tried).

It might be a good idea to have more street BB spaces but they're only any good if enforced. There's only one where I live and when I went today there was a van in it when I went into the shop, and a car with no BB when I came out. It was raining though, so to be expected. I parked on a DYL.

[BertBert]

thismonkeyhere said:

On a related note, I am tired of seeing car parks full, except for a bunch of empty disabled spaces.

So what would be your solution? Allow any car to park in the disabled bay, but vaporise it when a disabled person wants to park there?
Bert