March 2005 Issue of the

Disabled Motorist

Disabled Motorist is the monthly magazine of the Disabled Drivers' Motor Club. It's packed with useful and interesting information and it campaigns on the issues that affect you - whether you are a driver, passenger, or carer for a disabled child. Here, on our growing web site, is a small selection. If you would like to join the 20,000 people who receive a regular copy, please visit the Club membership page .

A long, long road

The Baywatch Survey results were depressingly familiar.
Abuse levels are still intolerably high and the reduction in completed forms shows that our members are suffering campaign fatigue – completing surveys year after year and often seeing little improvement.
Yet overall parking facilities were often rated very highly, showing that the problem is rarely one of infrastructure, and more stores than ever had successfully eradicated abuse.
All this points to a clear problem of management at store level. Where the local Store Manager has taken the problem seriously, abuse has been minimised; where he or she has not, bay abusers park with impunity.
Centrally, we have to make it clear to the store chain bosses that the good practice has to be spread across the whole group. Some of their staff are showing what needs to be done and it is senior management's job to spread the good work. We've done our bit by creating the Baywatch Awards – which exist to highlight and reward the excellent practice that does exist.
We also undertook detailed research on behalf of the Department for Transport, who have been very supportive of Baywatch. We hope that we will soon be able to agree a strategy with them to develop the recommendations contained in the report. The survey results show that this document needs to be circulated widely.
Baywatch is also conscious of the urgent need to broaden the campaign beyond the “Big 4” stores. With the support of the RAC we are holding a special meeting at the Commons,
where we hope more stores will come on board – an important stage in the creation of a campaign that fights on all aspects of disabled parking, both on-street and off-street.
We've made it clear to the stores that the provision of spaces isn't enough. They must have strategies in place to prevent bay abuse – otherwise they are reneging on their
responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act.
If they continue to do this they'll have to face the consequences in court – with all the negative publicity that this will bring.