Oh really ? Well I still can't get one despite a debilitating and degenerative spinal condition. Perhaps I'm sending the wrong sweets with my applications.

It cost me another £5.20 to park at Mt Vernon Hospital yesterday, hobble with the aid of a walking stick some 50 yards to the nearest pay machine to get my ticket, then back to the car to display it, then another back breaking 200-300 yard walk to the outpatients dept for my latest consultants appointment.

The very least hospital car parks could do is operate a barrier sytem where you collect a ticket on entry, and pay on exit based on your length of stay. If its good enough for shopping malls, why not the NHS ?

Rant over

That's my point Moley. It's outrageous someone with a mobility problem should be denied a permit over a registered blind - but otherwise fit- person.

This is not a fiddle as the lady in question did not ask for a disc, but was offered one by the LBH. Her her daughter uses it when they goes shopping. It's not right

There's a lot of blue badge misuse and I think they should be confiscated.

I/we only use hers if I am dropping off or picking her up

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Lets be careful out there !

There have been some reports in the press that around 100,000 of motability vehicles (of 600,000) on our roads will be removed as ATOS goes through it's eligibility checks.

Of course persons in receipt of the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance get a choice as to whether they take the cash component or exchange it for a car.

I never knew until this week that to get this benefit (and the car) just meant filling a series of forms in, usually no medical examination was necessary.

Apparently some people are handing back the keys when being invited in for interview rather than attending.


http://www.atoshealthcare.com/claimants/

They have been given a brief by central government to weed out fraudulent claims and can earn substantial bonuses the more they can 'disqualify'. Seems at some point everyone in receipt of some sort of disability benefit will be called for interview.

As far as the blue badge went my Mrs had to attend Hillingdon Council and take all her medical documents with her.

What we found amusing was that after her interview and when she was half way out they came chasing after her on a pretext of has she claimed for incapacity benefit.

I think they leave it a set time and then check progress. If they've got so far out of the building or are now walking carrying their walking stick they will be turned down.

As it happens she hadn't got very far because she does have a genuine problem.

She's qualified for both a blue badge and a disabled freedom pass but she's been turned down 3 times for any benefit. This is annoying as we know of people who are far more mobile and yet they are in receipt of benefit.
Also annoying because she can't move very well, is in constant severe pain and prone to stumbling and often falling as she has a degenerative leg muscle problem on top of the spinal issue, all documented.

Hillingdon Council reckon she should get it but the Gov don't.

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Lets be careful out there !

my son just got his car this week , after a lot of rubbish from everyone
it should have been automatic for him they say .with what he has
and got it all back dated

I have a blue badge, to me that is a Godsend, I have never claimed any benefits whatsoever just grateful I can park without all the walking that would reduce the walking I have to do once inside the supermarket, I have never claimed any benefits, for my problem, just get on with it, that's life as the world dont owe me a living, very happy as not in a wheelchair, I find my own solutions to my own problems whenever, wherever I am, and play the hand I was dealt.

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Its not always the biggest and the bestest, its them that make the least mistakes.

My dad has one and I use it when I take him shopping, I do find that people give me funny looks when they see me, but he can hardly walk that far and the odd trip where I take him out he loves it

... and that is what it's for, not for these young people to park anywhere and then run to the shops.

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Lets be careful out there !

I agree, I used to take him shopping, drop him at the door and go and find somewhere to park, but that left him at the door waiting for me and he was not happy with it. So I now use his card, but am amazed at the looks I get when it is so obvious that I am helping him.