22/08/2026
Disabled Bays Aren't a Convenience ... So Should People Who Abuse Them Face Tougher Punishment?
By Simon Sansome, CEO of Snowball
We have all seen it. You arrive at a supermarket and every disabled parking bay is occupied. Then someone gets out of one of the cars, walks into the shop, and there's no Blue Badge displayed.
For disabled people, it's incredibly frustrating. But more importantly, it can mean the difference between being able to go shopping and having to turn around and go home. According to Disabled Motoring UK's Baywatch 2025 survey of over 1,000 supermarket car park visits, 86% of the car parks surveyed had at least one vehicle misusing a disabled bay without a Blue Badge visibly displayed. Separately, DMUK's chief executive has said around one in ten people admit to parking in a disabled bay without a permit.
That raises an important question: should there be tougher punishment for people who misuse disabled bays, and should supermarkets be doing far more to monitor them?
"I'll only be five minutes." "I'm just picking somebody up." "There weren't any other spaces." But a disabled parking bay isn't a convenience. A wheelchair user may need the additional hatched space to get their wheelchair out. A wheelchair-accessible vehicle might need room for a ramp or lift. Someone with limited mobility might only be capable of walking a very short distance. If you take that space when you aren't entitled to it, you could be taking away someone's ability to access the supermarket altogether.
We create disabled bays, paint enormous wheelchair symbols on them, put signs beside them. But what's the point if nobody monitors them? Should supermarkets carry out regular Blue Badge checks? Should parking attendants specifically monitor disabled bays? Could technology help identify repeated misuse? And should somebody who knowingly parks in a disabled bay without being entitled to face a much stronger penalty? If there's little chance of being caught and virtually no meaningful consequence, what incentive is there for persistent offenders to stop?
An important word of caution: not every disability is visible. You cannot look at somebody getting out of a vehicle and decide whether they're disabled. This should never become an excuse for members of the public to confront or harass people they think don't look disabled. The question is whether the vehicle is legitimately using the disabled bay, not whether the person "looks disabled." Enforcement needs to be professional, consistent and respectful.
Perhaps supermarkets need to stop treating disabled parking abuse as a minor inconvenience and start treating accessible parking as an essential part of providing an accessible service. DMUK's 2025 findings should be a wake-up call.
Because a disabled bay isn't a privilege. For many disabled people, it's the difference between being able to access somewhere and having to go home.
Everyone Deserves Everywhere. 💙
I'd like to hear from Blue Badge holders: how often do you arrive somewhere and find disabled bays being misused? And should we introduce tougher penalties and stronger enforcement? Please share this article.
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