Baywatch Campaign

All too often we see disabled parking bays at our local supermarkets taken up by thoughtless individuals who don’t have a Blue Badge. The Baywatch campaign has been running since 2002 and over the years it has witnessed some improvement in the level of abuse of parking at supermarkets, but as the eligibility criteria has changed for obtaining a Blue Badge there is now an even higher demand for spaces.

The Baywatch campaign asks disabled motorists to survey their local supermarket car park at some point in the month of August. You are asked to make a note of how many disabled bays there are and how many are occupied by a car that is not displaying a Blue Badge. If you can, also offer any information on any enforcement measures that are in place and if there is a parking operator and signage stating this.

The results from this survey are then collated and the outcomes are passed on to supermarkets to encourage them to work with the charity to improve their parking policies with regard to tackling disabled bay abuse by using effective enforcement.

Disabled Motoring UK commented on the success of last year’s campaign: “In 2019 we had record numbers of people filling in the Baywatch survey which shows how passionate disabled people are about this issue. Usually DMUK only runs this specific campaigning activity every two years, but because of the interest last year we want to continue to gather momentum on this issue, so DMUK has made Baywatch an annual campaign!”

The supermarket with the least disabled parking bay abuse was Morrisons with an average of 10%

General findings showed that 1 in 5 disabled bays in supermarket car parks are abused

If parking regulations were enforced then 20% more parking would be available without having to add additional bays

Enforcement signage proved to help with the amount of parking abuse

At PosAbility we are proud to be a supporter of this campaign and ask that any of our readers who are able help contribute to the survey to ensure this issue is tackled.

Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson is also a strong supporter of the Baywatch campaign. She said: “It’s so sad that Disabled Motoring UK has to run its Baywatch Campaign. Disabled bay enforcement should be mandatory, especially for the big supermarkets that can afford to invest in policing their car parks. I see disabled parking abuse every day, it’s never a surprise to me, including at my local supermarket. There is a real lack of understanding about how essential these bays are to disabled people and I applaud DMUK’s Baywatch Campaign as it plays a vital role in highlighting the issue of disabled parking abuse at supermarkets. It is a campaign that I fully support and I intend to survey my local supermarket car park in August to help DMUK obtain the data they need to take the supermarkets to task over their disabled bay parking policies.”

To fnd out more about the campaign and how to get involved visit disabledmotoring.org.