Feeling blue?
Published: 16 June, 2008
Disabled parking bays are frequently a cause for controversy in the shopping centre industry. Whether it's people abusing the spaces reserved for blue badge holders or concerns expressed over limited provision, it is time for a radical overhaul of both the management and provision of these vital parking spots.
The Department for Transport has joined forces with Mobilise, the BPA and the BCSC to form a consortium to review UK disabled parking provision across a number of land uses, including shopping centres.
Allan Norcutt of WSP, the transport consultant assigned with the job of devising a survey, analysing the results and presenting their findings, says: "This study will see whether the guidance given for the provision of disabled parking bays is fair and reasonable or whether the figure is too low or too high."
At the moment all car parks, no matter what their size or what facility they serve, have to turn over 6 per cent of parking bays to disabled use.
"We would imagine that some facilities would require a higher number of parking spaces so we are going out to eight different land uses, including railway stations, hospitals and supermarkets, and we are going out to the contacts that Mobilise, the BPA and the BCSC have, and there will be a survey asking a number of questions to find out how many disabled parking spaces they currently have, how they enforce them, how well used they are and do they get abused, and then try to find trends as to why some things work and some don't."
The government-led study has been ongoing for the past six months and following a short pilot study to "iron out any wrinkles", the survey is now being rolled out to concerned parties.
Kelvin Reynolds of the BPA adds: "We want as many people as possible in the retail world, who are operating a car park, to respond to this survey as we need to know how disabled parking is provided for in the retail environment, how it is managed and if the one-fits-all 6 per cent is a problem, because until we have the evidence we can't go to the DfT to change it."
Norcutt adds: "We have our own ideas of what has gone on in the past, for example, disabled bays are often a last thought and blue badge holders can't locate them. We also want to see if there is a possibility of dual use of these spaces. For example, it could be a disabled space during the day, but in the evening used by staff to park. This could be particularly useful at supermarkets and hospitals, which are open all night.
"The organisations have their own thoughts on this and we will be going out to shopping centre managers and supermarket managers, and they all know what works well for them, so we can gather a lot of good practices and see what does work well and what doesn't work well."
The findings will form part of the Transport Select Committee's review strategy for blue badge holders in the autumn and Norcutt predicts that we could see something come through in legislation as early as next year.
Marcus Kilby, chair of the Education and Research Committee at BCSC, and on the Advisory Board, says it is part of BCSC's remit to be involved in areas other than just the nuts and bolts of retail environments, and that includes community-affected areas, such as parking.
He also believes the government's guidelines on disabled parking provision has been designated at a specific level without any real understanding of their usage and how it should be implemented.
"We thought it important to support a study of how disabled parking is being used both during the day and in the evening, and how it can be managed so that the public overall, and specifically the disabled, can still have their spaces or more if necessary," says Kilby.
"There may be circumstances or times of day where flexibility can be adopted, designated within certain hours. If there are parking spaces being under-utilised we should be making sure that gets resolved, and if the disabled aren't getting sufficient spaces at peak times then we should make sure there are parking spaces for them as well.
"Hopefully there can be a clear guidance given to all parking operators, not just shopping centres, but to all parking operators, how they can better manage that, and we felt that was worthy of support."
Kilby points out that BCSC members get frustrated at peak times when people are looking for car parking spaces and all they find available are disabled bays.
"That leads to frustration and antagonism or people just park in the disabled bays, which can cause friction because if people ignore the disabled parking spaces then that becomes more of a management issue and can cause conflict between those that are disabled and those that aren't. And those are issues that no one wants to happen. If they are being utilised in the right way, I don't think people will abuse the car park."
Abuse of disabled bays is a frequent problem for all car park owners, with drivers parking in these designated spaces without displaying a blue badge. Currently there is no law to enforce disabled parking bays on private land, such as shopping centre car parks, and it is up to the discretion of individual landlords how they enforce these spaces.
The new approach to improving this situation began last year when the DfT announced plans to improve the security of Blue Badge passes by issuing them in tamper-proof casings. At the start of this year it published guidance for local authorities on how to improve the administration and enforcement of the scheme.
Longer term, a root and branch reform of the blue badge scheme is under way. An independent review was carried out last year and one of its key conclusions was that the scheme is "undermined by high and continuing levels of abuse". The DfT is now working on ways of effectively preventing and addressing such abuse. The results of its findings are expected later this spring.
In addition, Jackie Baillie, Member of Scottish Parliament, has launched a member's bill that would make it illegal to use disabled parking without a badge in Scotland if it gets passed through parliament.
In the meantime, many shopping centres and retailers are going the extra mile and penalising non-blue badge holders that park in disabled bays through the introduction of fines.
Town & City Parking is one company that has been focusing on the management and provision of disabled bays and has introduced fines for people that abuse these spaces. Having trialled with Asda in seven of its stores, TCP has rolled its disabled parking scheme out to Braehead shopping centre, near Glasgow, where anyone caught without a valid badge in one of the 387 disabled spaces at the centre is penalised with a £60 fine. (The £60 civil penalty notice will be reduced to £30 for those who pay within 10 days.)
The move was welcomed by MSP Jackie Baillie, who says: "This is a very positive and welcome move by Braehead and one that will make a huge difference to disabled people."
Braehead general manager Peter Beagley adds: "It is very selfish and unfair of drivers to use these designated parking spaces if they don't have the disabled driver blue badge. It is unfortunate that we have to go to these lengths.
"I would urge drivers to respect the needs of disabled people and not use the parking spaces specially designated for them."
The money collected from the fines will be used initially to set up the scheme, but any excess monies will later be given to charity. Braehead bosses also plan to fine drivers who park on double-yellow lines in the centre's car parks.
On the consortium, set up to review the provision and management of disabled parking, TCP's managing director Bernie Dickson comments: "I think this is further indication, if you like, that this is going to be rolled out. Whether or not it's made law in Scotland so all car parks have to be enforced, I think retailers will take it upon themselves to do it anyway."
TCP's disabled parking scheme follows a move last year by Castlepoint shopping park in Bournemouth, which also fines drivers who take spaces reserved for disabled shoppers. People parking in a disabled bay without being a blue badge holder receive a penalty notice charge of £100. If paid within two weeks it is reduced to £50.
Enforcement is carried out by De Vere Parking, a private company that charges Castlepoint £40 for every ticket it issues. This charge creates a £10 surplus for every £50 penalty paid, which Castlepoint then ringfences and spends on more facilities for disabled shoppers.
Peter Matthews, general manager at Castlepoint, introduced the charges in May last year, and to date has fined 1,153 drivers who have continued to abuse the spaces. "I created a Disabled Forum within the centre here just after I arrived just over three years ago.
"A disabled person approached me to complain about various issues with regard to disabled provisions in the centre and it struck me then that I am fully able-bodied and have no idea of what it's like to be disabled," he explains. "So I approached other people that are disabled - people that are partially sighted, someone in a wheelchair and someone with a guide dog, and every three months now I meet with these people.
"One thing that came out of our meetings was their lack of ability sometimes to park in the disabled bays adjacent to the shops. So we monitored the situation for months.
"I don't come from a background of wanting to penalise people, but we went around and put tickets on people's windows, and whenever we tried to say to someone 'excuse me, you haven't got a disabled badge and you are parking in a disabled bay', they didn't care.
"This went on a for a few months and I took a decision to introduce fining, before Asda did it."
Notices outlining the charges were put on bollards in front of all disabled bays and on the notice boards, while the local paper also warned shoppers in advance that the scheme was coming two weeks before it started.
"The £10 we get we ringfence and put it into improving disabled facilities," continues Matthews. "We have made the doors to the two public toilets on the ground-floor level automatic, and in the five lifts from ground floor to the deck level we have put in mirrors on the back wall so that people on scooters can see their way out."
In addition, money has been invested in making the Castlepoint website disabled friendly, with the ability to increase the font size, better use of colours and it even allows the website to speak to consumers.
"It has cleared spaces significantly," says Matthews. "I can now walk around on a Saturday morning and see spaces in disabled bays so it has hit people in the pocket.
"It has now created a lobby from parents over the parent and child spaces," he continues, "but there is no similar national scheme to protect them. Currently, the parent and child bays are across the road from the shops on the deck level and that's dangerous, so we are looking at putting all the parent and child bays on ground level adjacent to the shops, as the ground level doesn't fill up first. They can then get their buggy out and there's a lift adjacent to them."
TCP's Dickson agrees it's much harder to enforce parent and baby spaces. "Asda has considered it where parents with children join a club and receive a badge to indicate they are a member of that club but it became unworkable and was never that successful," he says.
"We do manage the parent and child bays for Asda but it's a very difficult thing to do. We have definitely got to make sure we see the driver and see that they have not got children with them, and it's a very difficult thing. What retailers are trying to do is put moral pressure on drivers not to park in those spaces."
Grahame Rose, business development director with car park and facilities management specialist CP Plus, has witnessed the fight-back against disabled bay abusers step up a gear.
"We support Asda," he affirms, "and any other retailer taking steps to ensure that specialised parking bays are kept for customers who really need them.
"However, we believe handing out tickets on its own will not solve the problem. Customers also need the reassurance of the presence of trained, on-site parking assistants who can spot the offenders.
"For years, the industry has bemoaned the persistent selfishness of some motorists, who refuse to respect priority parking schemes for people with disabilities. Now with the involvement of the government and major retailers, we may be seeing some progress in getting to grips with the problem at last."
Vinci Park prefers to have a visual presence in its car parks to deter abuse of its disabled bays and parent and toddler spaces.
Commercial director Phillip Herring says: "There is a national scheme with the blue badge, but with that there is still a need to be vigilant because there are people with short-term disabilities who feel they have the right to park in these bays and you don't want to take against them. So there is a softly, softly approach but there are still people who park there that shouldn't.
"Parent and toddler is more difficult as there isn't a nationwide scheme for that and you need to see them leave their car or look for signs, such as baby car seats.
"It's just observation and discretion and is down to our guy on-site," he continues. "We have a comprehensive training programme which includes customer service, customer focus training dealing with people with disabilities and dealing with confrontation and our man on the ground is trained in all those areas and that gives him the tools to go about his business the best way."
Creative Car Park's chief executive Gary Wayne also sees enforcement of disabled parking bays as slightly more complex. "If you park on private land then it's at the discretion of the owner," says Wayne, who doesn't believe it's necessarily right to go down the route of fining people without blue badges who park in disabled bays.
"It's more about talking to people and encouraging them - saying 'you don't need this bay, it's needed by someone who can't walk'."
