Supermarkets are possibly breaking discrimination laws by treating everyone the same according to the BBC this morning. The practice by supermarkets of limiting free parking to 2 hours to prevent people treating their land as a free public carpark has come heavily under fire.
In a balanced, responsible, pieces being broadcast all morning on BBC1 both of the presenters, the roving reporter, a lawyer and a mouthpiece from a charity (that received over £100k from government sources last year) all rounded on the eeevvvvviiiiilllll supermarkets for treating people exactly the same way irrespective of their physical condition.
"It is utterly despicable" one hand-wringer opined "that these massive corporations should be applying equality laws in this way. The brilliant legislation that this government has forced through is designed to make people give special advantage to the disabled, not treat them the same as everyone else."
"How dare they impose conditions on how people use their private property" said a motoring pressure group spokesman "it's another stealth tax on motorists. It's wrong that they should be allowed to decide how we use their property."
"Back to how bad this is for disabled people," interrupted the strident female presenter "we've had an email from a man, erm Steve in Blackpool, who says his disabled mother struggles to get round the supermarket, then sit talking to her friends in the cafe for an hour, all within a 2 hour time limit. So that's proven it really hasn't it? The supermarkets are deliberately snaring people by offering all of these extra services on site. They are pure evil. And they are definitely operating a policy of discrimination."
"What the supermarkets should introduce is a two tier system of time limits in their car parks" said the hand wringer. "One for able bodied people and one for disabled people. That way the disabled will not face discrimination that they currently do."
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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An interesting question (to me at least) is whether supermarkets (and other private businesses) would have disabled only parking spaces available where that not a legal requirement.
I am disabled and can only walk slowly, and for a reasonably short distance, with a stick. So I have a 'blue badge'. I would almost certainly only shop at places that had the disabled bays, if not all of them had them.
So is my custom worth it? I would hope it would be, but I don't know this for certain.
It would be fun if Tesco (and the others) decided that MPs weren't allowed to use their car parks. Or maybe they could only use the special "MP only" spaces in the furthest part of the car park a decent walk from the door. Give them a taste of the discrimination they impose on the rest of us.
**I broke an ankle a couple of years ago and, during the winter months, suffer from bouts of extremely painful arthritis. I understand some of the difficulties that reduced mobility presents**
As I recall years ago there were just parking spaces at supermarkets. None were specially designated for disabled drivers or parents with small children. Pressure from customers and from special interest groups persuaded the companies that it would be in their business interests to have specially allocated spaces. Disabled spaces are now a universal sight (they are probably a legal requirement).
In offering free parking to their customers the supermarkets have left themselves open to abuse from employees of other local businesses and even, in some cases, local residents. Free car parking at the supermarket or pay for an on-road permit? If the supermarkets do not take a stand against these abuses of their land then eventually there won’t be a single space left for their customers to use. The police have no power to remove a vehicle from private property so the only solution to them is to issue civil parking penalties and pursue them through the small claims courts. If people feel that a 2 hour time limit is unfair then they should take their custom elsewhere in protest.
Should one sub-section of the population receive preferential treatment over another? I’ll let you decide for yourself how to determine what discrimination is, or isn’t, but I’m very much in favour of ‘one rule for everyone’ as it makes life a lot easier.
Where did disabled people park in the days before disabled parking spaces ? Were they able to park those odd three-wheeler carriages anywhere ? I seem to remember they were exempt from parking restrictions or is my age and memory befuddled by excessive alcohol consumption ?
Scots law changed a few months ago and it's now a criminal offence to use a disabled parking space without a blue badge. On public or private property ( shops etc).
£60 fine at the moment.
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