If they decide there is a good enough reason to have the parent/child bays, that should be good enough reason not to park there if you don't have a child with you.

The Blue Badge Scheme does not apply to off-street car parks and enforcement of disabled persons' parking bays is therefore a matter for the individual owner or operator concerned. In the case of local authority off-street car parks, parking place orders normally either make it an offence for someone not displaying a valid blue badge to park in a disabled persons' parking bay or make it subject to the payment of an "excess charge".

In private off-street car parks, such as those at supermarkets, the position is more complicated. These car parks are private property and the charges and conditions of use are essentially a contractual matter between the owner and the motorist. In such car parks, spaces marked for badge holders only are in most cases not legally enforceable, but depend on the courtesy and consideration of other drivers. Company employees could ask a non-disabled driver to move their car from a space set aside for disabled people but they might not be in a position to insist upon it.

However, it is the Department's view that it is also possible in law for the owners of a private car park to agree with the local authority that a parking place order be made in respect of that car park. Conditions of use can then be enforced as if it were a local authority car park, with penalties or excess charges levied on offenders. Such an agreement, which would enable the local authority to make an order regulating the use of the disabled persons' parking spaces or the entire car park, does not require the land to be transferred by sale or lease to the local authority. Parking not authorised under the terms of the order, for instance, parking in reserved spaces would be an offence. To be effective, any arrangement along these lines would naturally require commitments from the local authority in terms of enforcement activity.

Where there is suspected misuse of marked out disabled persons' parking bays in private car parks, it should be brought to the attention of the management of the store or premises concerned so that they may consider effective action to enforce the parking restrictions in their car parks. It is, of course, in the interests of supermarkets and other stores to enforce their disabled persons' parking bays as unauthorised use can lead to loss of trade if disabled people are unable to shop at their stores.