DMUK’s campaign which looks into levels of disabled parking abuse is now live!

A common problem for many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination, especially at their local supermarket. The major complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge.

Disabled Motoring UK’s Baywatch campaign seeks to address this. Last year was our best campaign yet with record numbers of participants. However, this was before the world was swamped by the current Coronavirus pandemic. Usually DMUK asks individuals to physically go to a supermarket car park and count cars not displaying a Blue Badge which are parked in disabled bays. However, this year the charity felt this was not appropriate. 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 for the month of August which participants can complete without leaving their home. DMUK asks individuals to think back over the last 12 months to consider their general parking experience and asks them to answer some questions about this experience at supermarkets and on their everyday journeys. The charity will use this data to tackle the supermarkets and other parking providers over their disabled parking policies. As a thank you for taking part there will also be an opportunity for one participant to win a £25 M&S voucher.

The survey is now live and can be accessed at https://www.disabledmotoring.org/baywatch-2020

We hope that in August 2021 to have this pandemic long behind us and run our usual Baywatch Campaign.

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 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.”

Heidi Turner, Communications and Campaigns Director 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 do their everyday grocery shopping. The charity decided to change the format of Baywatch this year in order to keep our supporters safe. Nevertheless the new survey will provide us with some 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 encompasses some more general parking questions which will expand the scope of the DMUK Baywatch Campaign.”