IN your paper from time to time there appears in the letter columns a letter or two from disabled motorists complaining about able bodied car users taking up designated disabled parking spaces at supermarkets and public car parks etc.

I am an authorised Blue Badge holder.

I might moan and grumble and become frustrated when I can't park. But then I think, what's the use.

It's what people do and human nature being what it is, these self-same people will continue to abuse the system, no matter how often it is brought to their attention. They simply don't care.

However, I couldn't help but smile the other day at the thought that some of these vociferous Blue Badge holders are not all what they may appear to be and not all too innocent in their protestations.

I rarely have reason to shop in Brierley Hill but when I do I normally park on the car park at the rear of the Moor Centre.

The last time I used this car park it was free of charge, very busy and it was difficult to find a vacant parking bay, particularly in the spaces marked and allocated for disabled shoppers.

I has reason to park there again a couple of days ago and was surprised to find it is now a private fee-paying car park. It's no more than a sign of the times, obviously, but what struck the most forcibly was the lack of cars parked there. And there was no vehicle at all parked in the disabled bays.

So what has happened to those disabled drivers who used to park here? Are they now parking on the car parks at the side of St Mary's Level Street and at the rear of the council officers in Cottage Street?

I don't think so. My guess is you can now find them clogging up the High Street and streets leading off it.

It's amazing how when parking charges are implemented a car park loses its appeal as a place to park when it was considered so convenient previously.

But here's the thing.

People who are granted Blue Badge status have, or should have, a mobility disability or problem. Simply put, they can't walk very far, if at all.

So why is it, for a no more simple reason than saving on a fifty pence parking fee, they now appear to be capable of walking and no doubt carrying shopping over greater distances?

I think there may be a simple answer.

The authroised Blue Badge registered users for the vehicles are probably sitting at home!

And I also think some of these motorists who are now parking on yellow lines to avoid paying for parking chucking mobility badges on the windscreen are able-bodied motorists using the badge illegally.

To my mind there is as much abuse of the Blue Badge mobility scheme by able-bodied car drivers (with the complicity of the authorised badge holder) as there is with their ongoing inconsiderate practice of parking in disabled parking bays.

Name and address supplied