Disabled Living

Tag: driving

  • Baywatch month 2022: Disabled Motoring UK’s annual survey

    Baywatch month 2022: Disabled Motoring UK’s annual survey

    In this guest blog, Disabled Motoring UK is encouraging people with disabilities to fill in their annual Baywatch survey to help improve parking industry standards and stamp out disabled parking abuse. Disabled Living is proud to support Disabled Motoring UK’s campaign.

    Baywatch is here and this month Disabled Motoring UK will be asking you to fill in the Baywatch survey. Every year DMUK runs its Baywatch Campaign which researches opinions about disabled parking abuse. It’s a simple survey which doesn’t take long to fill in and provides the charity with really useful data to take to the parking industry to encourage them to do more to support disabled customers and manage their disabled parking provisions correctly. Last year DMUK received over 850 responses, breaking all records, which goes to show that many of you are still experiencing massive problems when it comes to finding suitable and properly enforced disabled parking.

    Still the most common problem for many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination. The major complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge and most of the questions in the survey reflect this. However, as time moves on DMUK has noticed new parking worries around electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. So this year we have included a question on EV charging bays. (DMUK also has its dedicated EV survey still running and if you have not already done so please take the time to fill it in. More info available here.)

    When answering the questions please think about your parking experiences over the last 12 months. Have you been able to park easily at the supermarket and elsewhere? Do you think local authorities are doing enough to tackle Blue Badge misuse? These are important questions and if we have some statistical evidence it makes our case stronger when trying to get the parking industry take the management of disabled parking bays seriously.

    We will be running the Baywatch survey for the month of August which you can complete without leaving your home. The online survey which can be accessed through our website www.disabledmotoring.org/baywatch/baywatch-2022

    When the survey closes the results are calculated and published. The Baywatch campaign also aims to change public attitudes by bringing to the attention of disabled bay abusers the impact that their actions can have. We will publish the results later in the year.

    Heidi Turner, Campaigns and Communications Director at Disabled Motoring UK said: “Disabled bay abuse is still one of the main concerns expressed to us by our members and the public. Our annual Baywatch campaign is an opportunity to focus the parking industry on the problems faced by disabled motorists when parking and sends the message that these bays need to be enforced and managed correctly. We are noticing more opinions coming forward on how disabled motorists think the scheme should be enforced and we are also keen to hear these views.”

    Take action now

    As well as filling in the Baywatch survey you could also help by writing to your MP. We have a new template letter on our website available for members and public to download. This letter can be sent to your MP to ask them what is being done in your area to tackle Blue Badge parking abuse. To download the letter please visit https://www.disabledmotoring.org/campaigns/blue-badge Further information on how to contact your MP can be found by visiting https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

    DMUK would like to thank all those who participate in this year’s Baywatch Campaign.

    Supporting organisations

    We are thrilled to have the support of so many supporting organisations.

    supporting charities - AccessAble, Phab, Independent living, Honest John, Disabled Living, heycar, Posability magazine, BPA

    Disabled Motoring UK 

    Disabled Motoring UK is the national charity which supports disabled drivers, passengers and Blue Badge holders. We work with government and businesses to improve parking, refuelling and access provision for disabled people, so that they can access the goods and services that they need. Disabled Motoring UK is not just an organisation for disabled motorists; we also campaign for and support scooter and wheelchair users, families and carers.

    The charity is a membership organisation and the charity relies on membership subscriptions to continue its work. Full members receive a monthly magazine, access to our information service and discounts on variety of goods and services.

    For more information please contact:

    Heidi Turner

    Campaigns and Communications Director

    heidi@disabledmotoring.org

    01508 489449

  • Baywatch 2021 campaign: Tackling disabled parking abuse

    Baywatch 2021 campaign: Tackling disabled parking abuse

    In this guest blog by Disabled Motoring UK, we learn about their excellent campaign to stop the misuse and abuse of disabled parking spaces, Baywatch 2021. Baywatch is supported by Baroness Grey-Thompson. 

    The issue of disabled bay enforcement

    A common problem for many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination. The major complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge. Last year Disabled Motoring UK (DMUK) changed the format of the parking survey so that participants could fill it in at home. This allowed the charity to also expand the scope of the survey to gauge your opinions of other aspects of parking and the Blue Badge Scheme.

    The results are calculated and published when the survey closes. The charity presents this data to the parking industry and encourages it to take the parking problems of disabled motorists more seriously and manage their parking provision correctly. The Baywatch campaign also aims to change public attitudes by highlighting the impact of disabled bay abuse.

    Baywatch 2021 – improving disabled parking provision and enforcement

    The only way to keep the pressure on the parking industry is to run the DMUK Baywatch Campaign annually and this year it takes place in August and you’ll  be able to participate online by visiting the DMUK website.

    We hope to make this year bigger and better than ever before. We have a number of organisations supporting Baywatch 2021.

    The campaign has support from Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson. She commented: “It’s so sad that Disabled Motoring UK has to run its Baywatch Campaign. Disabled bay enforcement should be an imperative, especially for the major supermarkets that can afford to invest in policing their car parks. I see disabled parking abuse regularly, 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.”

    Graham Footer, Chief Executive, at DMUK, said: “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 go about their daily lives. It is now an annual campaign for the charity. We hope this will allow us to gather momentum and keep the pressure on the supermarkets and other car park owners to do more to support their disabled customers. It’s fantastic that the campaign has support from Baroness Grey-Thompson again this year. This campaign relies on public participation and we hope her support will encourage others to get involved.”

    Supporting organisations

    These organisations support DMUK/s Baywatch campaign:

    We’d like to get as many organisations involved as possible to spread awareness of the campaign. There is still time to get involved and we welcome all support with this vital campaign.

Disabled Living