Morrisons Top for Disabled Vehicle Parking

A recent survey into the misuse of disabled parking bays has shown that, of the major supermarket chains, Morrisons has the least amount of disabled vehicle parking abuse.

The Baywatch survey, conducted by Disabled Motoring UK (DMUK), took place over a two week period, with over 1,000 people taking part.  The survey included car parks at Aldi, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and Lidl.

Room for Improvement

Survey volunteers were asked to go to their local supermarket and note the number of cars parked in accessible bays not displaying a Blue Badge.  They were also tasked to record whether there were any signs discouraging people from parking in these bays if they weren’t disabled and whether there was any evidence of store staff enforcing parking conditions for bays allocated for disabled customers.

Morrisons came out on top, with only 9.2% of Blue Badge parking abuse in their store car parks.  Sainsbury’s also did well, coming second with 12.9%.  Others, including market-leader Tesco, are believed to have fared much less favourably.

Helen Dolphin, Director of Policy and Campaigns at DMUK, commented: “The Baywatch Campaign aims to encourage supermarkets to enforce their bays and keep them free for the people who really need them and to raise awareness of the problems experienced by disabled people who cannot park near their destination due to parking abuse.”

Helen added: “The majority of the supermarkets have improved since our last Baywatch survey in 2009, but there’s still room for improvement.”