Baywatch month 2022: Disabled Motoring UK’s annual survey
In this guest blog, Disabled Motoring UK is encouraging people with disabilities to fill in their annual Baywatch survey to help improve parking industry standards and stamp out disabled parking abuse. Disabled Living is proud to support Disabled Motoring UK’s campaign.
Baywatch is here and this month Disabled Motoring UK will be asking you to fill in the Baywatch survey. Every year DMUK runs its Baywatch Campaign which researches opinions about disabled parking abuse. It’s a simple survey which doesn’t take long to fill in and provides the charity with really useful data to take to the parking industry to encourage them to do more to support disabled customers and manage their disabled parking provisions correctly. Last year DMUK received over 850 responses, breaking all records, which goes to show that many of you are still experiencing massive problems when it comes to finding suitable and properly enforced disabled parking.
Still the most common problem for many disabled motorists is not being able to park at their desired destination. The major complaint is that the disabled bays are all occupied with cars not displaying a Blue Badge and most of the questions in the survey reflect this. However, as time moves on DMUK has noticed new parking worries around electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. So this year we have included a question on EV charging bays. (DMUK also has its dedicated EV survey still running and if you have not already done so please take the time to fill it in. More info available here.)
When answering the questions please think about your parking experiences over the last 12 months. Have you been able to park easily at the supermarket and elsewhere? Do you think local authorities are doing enough to tackle Blue Badge misuse? These are important questions and if we have some statistical evidence it makes our case stronger when trying to get the parking industry take the management of disabled parking bays seriously.
We will be running the Baywatch survey for the month of August which you can complete without leaving your home. The online survey which can be accessed through our website www.disabledmotoring.org/baywatch/baywatch-2022
When the survey closes the results are calculated and published. The Baywatch campaign also aims to change public attitudes by bringing to the attention of disabled bay abusers the impact that their actions can have. We will publish the results later in the year.
Heidi Turner, Campaigns and Communications Director at Disabled Motoring UK said: “Disabled bay abuse is still one of the main concerns expressed to us by our members and the public. Our annual Baywatch campaign is an opportunity to focus the parking industry on the problems faced by disabled motorists when parking and sends the message that these bays need to be enforced and managed correctly. We are noticing more opinions coming forward on how disabled motorists think the scheme should be enforced and we are also keen to hear these views.”
Take action now
As well as filling in the Baywatch survey you could also help by writing to your MP. We have a new template letter on our website available for members and public to download. This letter can be sent to your MP to ask them what is being done in your area to tackle Blue Badge parking abuse. To download the letter please visit https://www.disabledmotoring.org/campaigns/blue-badge Further information on how to contact your MP can be found by visiting https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/
DMUK would like to thank all those who participate in this year’s Baywatch Campaign.
Supporting organisations
We are thrilled to have the support of so many supporting organisations.
Disabled Motoring UK
Disabled Motoring UK is the national charity which supports disabled drivers, passengers and Blue Badge holders. We work with government and businesses to improve parking, refuelling and access provision for disabled people, so that they can access the goods and services that they need. Disabled Motoring UK is not just an organisation for disabled motorists; we also campaign for and support scooter and wheelchair users, families and carers.
The charity is a membership organisation and the charity relies on membership subscriptions to continue its work. Full members receive a monthly magazine, access to our information service and discounts on variety of goods and services.
For more information please contact:
Heidi Turner
Campaigns and Communications Director
01508 489449
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