A blue badge holder spotted what could be the worst DIY disabled badge ever – slamming the ‘arrogant’ teen for hand drawing the permit on a scrap of McDonald’s bag paper so he could use a disabled spot
Dez Richardson spotted the shocking attempt at a permit on a neighbouring vehicle while he displayed his own legitimate blue badge in the Tesco carpark in Portwood, Stockport.
The 38-year-old was stunned to see two giggling and ‘able-bodied’ teens emerge from the car and, although he acknowledges that they may have had invisible disabilities, the DIY badge left him convinced they were ‘taking the ****’.
The dad-of-two, who works as a HGV driver, vented about the incident on social media, hoping it would get back to the ‘selfish’ driver and make him think twice about doing it again.
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But instead he ended up defending himself against commenters who insisted he shouldn’t ‘make assumptions’ despite the shabby ‘Maccies bag permit’ – as he himself has invisible disabilities.
Dez, from Mossley, Greater Manchester, said: “I was parking in Tesco car park and this fella pulled in next to me – he was probably about 19 or 20 and had his lass with him who was about the same age.
“They got out laughing and chuckling to themselves and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye on the dash as I walked around to my wife’s side of the car.
“I thought ‘that’s not a blue badge’ so I had a look and saw what it was – I just thought ‘you are kidding me’.
The car that was parked in a disabled bay with a hand-drawn disabled badge on show
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“You’ve got almost an entirely empty car park but you’ve chosen to go out of your way to behave like this – what does it actually achieve other than show-boating your own selfishness?
“It wouldn’t have been as bad if nothing was there but it was the fact that he went out of his way to draw a fake badge just to take the p*ss, that’s just taking time to be intentionally obnoxious.”
Dez is a legitimate blue badge holder thanks to suffering from painful damage to his spine and knees that reduces his mobility.
Earlier that same day he himself was questioned over parking in a disabled bay due to not having a visible disability and so he actively recognises and respects invisible disabilities.
Blue badge holder Dez Richardson was left outraged by the DIY disabled badge on show in a Tesco’s car park
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
But the behaviour of the two teens and the nature of the ‘badge’ on display left him convinced they were faking a disability status to park close to the store.
He slammed the makeshift blue badge as ‘mocking’ and offensive to genuinely disabled people.
Dez said: “I’m well aware and respectful of invisible disabilities but he was clearly an energetic young lad and I just thought there’s no way – you just can’t believe the audacity of it.
“My understanding is that if you have a blue badge you use it and if you don’t have one you don’t use a bay.
“What that behaviour exhibited was just a complete arrogant entitlement – you don’t go out of your way to draw something like that and pretend to be something you’re not.
“I’m a blue badge holder myself and earlier that same day I had a woman challenge me over mine because I don’t look obviously disabled.
Comments on Dez Richardson’s post about the hand-drawn disabled badge
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“The circumstances were completely different because I am a legitimate badge holder and this guy had just clearly gone out of his way to mock everyone that is.”
The blue badge holder later shared the incident on Facebook, calling out the driver’s ‘arrogant’ behaviour.
The post was met with numerous comments from members of the public insisting that Dez himself was making an unfair assumption about the driver’s disability status.
Many also took issue with his mention of the youth’s tracksuit as unfair stereotyping but he stood firm that he was simply describing the teen and that the real issue was with his suspected impersonation of a disabled person.
Dez said: “I posted about it wondering if someone would recognise his car and say something to him, hoping he would think ‘I’ve been caught here’ and maybe next time not be quite as arrogant.
“At the end of the day no ones ever going to stop behaving like that and not get in the way of someone who may need that space unless they’re called out or embarrassed by it.
More comments left on Dez’s Facebook post, including one eagle eyed commenter who pointed out the badge was drawn on a McDonalds bag…
(Image: Kennedy News and Media)
“The negative comments all went down the line of ‘how do you know he’s not disabled, you can’t make assumptions’ and of course you can’t but if someone was disabled they’d have the blue badge wouldn’t they.
“How obvious can it be that this is a person that’s taking the p*ss! People are just knowingly defending someone behaving like a pillock and arguing for argument’s sake.
“You can argue with these people until you’re blue in the face but they’ve just got the attitude of ‘it’s private land, I’m entitled’ – but just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
Tesco was contacted for comment.
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