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. 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 we 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. 

The charity will be running a survey for the month of August which you can complete without leaving your home. DMUK will ask you to think back over the last 12 months to consider your general parking experience and ask you to answer some questions about this experience at supermarkets and at other car parks. We will use this data to tackle the supermarkets and other parking providers over their disabled parking policies. 

The survey will be printed in the August issue of Disabled Motoring and members can fill it in and send back to us using the freepost address, or alternatively there will be an online version going live in August which can be accessed through our website www.disabledmotoring.org 

When the survey closes the results are calculated and published. 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 bringing to the attention of disabled bay abusers the impact that their actions can have.  

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” 

Take action now 

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 contacting your MP can be found by visiting https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/  

Supporting Organisations 

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