Baywatch!

Ah the joy of having a blue badge. Not only can you stick it up on your windscreen when you've had a bit too much to drink (That is a joke by the way before you start emailing your boring complaints!) you can also park right near the entrances of shopping malls, music venues and gyms! Even if you are disabled or using a disabled people badge and 'limping' out your car you need a badge to park in a disabled car parking place.

For those of you who without a badge and have risked parking in a disabled space on the high street could well find a ticket slammed on your windscreen upon your return. However if you park in a disabled bay at a supermarket you are in pretty safe hands and can quite possibly get away with it.

However thanks to a scheme called Baywatch, which started a few years ago parking in a disabled bay without a badge could become a thing of the past as people are beginning to wise up. Secret spies are now roaming around Supermarket car parks - and they aren't interested in dogging! These people are starting to monitor the misuse of disabled bays across the country. They have surveys to fill out as well! Even though these 'spies' must have time to kill on their hands, probably unemployed and can't afford a decent telly to watch daytime TV it is a pretty good idea.

The chairwoman chair of the Cardiff and Vale British Polio Association, Carol Wiliams is very frustrated,

" "It is very frustrating," Carol said, see we told you she was!, "This is something that is going on all of the time and we really need to do something about it because there are an awful lot of drivers who rely on these spaces. "There are so many people who are elderly, infirm and disabled and need these spaces and yet very often you see people parking in the spaces when they shouldn't be doing so."

Just to warn our able-bodied readers if you are parking in these spaces the 'spies' are normally filling in their forms at peak times.

Douglas Campbell is from the Disabled Drivers Association and added his comment and concern, but to be honest it's Friday afternoon, we want to go home and we can't be arsed to print it. It was something along the lines of how disappointed he was able bodied people taking up disabled bays.

Anyway, the point of this story isn't just to fill a page because there's little on the disabled news front at the moment. No, the point is - how are able bodied drivers going to be stopped from doing this. Well leading UK Supermarkets and Tescos! have been scratching their heads and have come up with some 'amazing' ideas, although we don't think they have thought things through enough..

The Cardiff Tescos, wait for this - it all 4 years of reporting back from disabled stories we found this pure class, have installed a barrier on their disabled bay which can only be lifted via a key fob. So basically if you are physically disabled enough to have a badge they expect the drivers to use a key fob!!

Asda have used something called a 'Space Hog' which warns drivers by a loud speaking voice that they are parking in a disabled bay. OK this may embarrass able bodied drivers parking in the bay but also attract attention to disabled people when they park!! The recording might as well say 'Roll Up, Roll Up a disabled driver is about to attempt parking their car!'.

The Baywatch scheme ends on January 16th and we may even publish the results. Until then think when you park in a disabled bay as you could be taking it up from someone who does actually need it. Our advise is to go and park in the mother and baby spaces instead as nobody ever questions those, believe us - we use them all the time if there's no disabled spaces!!