IN the car park of a neighbourhood Co-op last week only a memory of previous iniquities thwarted a dramatic stand-off. The facility provides space for around 15 vehicles, of which two are clearly marked for the use of disabled people.

Occasionally on social media, some jerky footage is posted of selfish drivers brazenly occupying spaces reserved for disabled people. It’s intended to shame the perpetrators. Last week, a large vehicle at the luxury end of the car market had parked across those two spaces intended for the exclusive use of disabled badge holders.

And so, I fished out my iphone and took a picture of it, half intending to post it on Twitter/X along with some smartarse words of admonition. It’s just that, well … I hadn’t yet divined how to paint out rogue details in photographs, such as car registration numbers. And by the time I’d called one of my growing band of phone-a-friend carers who help me navigate the minefield of modern life, I’d lost the inclination to give vent to my outraged moral umbrage.

But, if I’m being absolutely honest, there was another reason I hadn’t pursued this any further: I’d previously occasionally parked in a disabled space too. Indeed a quick survey of selected friends revealed that every one of them had.

The most common attempted justification for doing this is that you were only nipping in for a pint of milk or a newspaper and thus your civic misdemeanour would only stretch to a few minutes. You fish for another lame palliative: that it’s not like you’re occupying a space during a half-hour expedition at the Tesco.

It’s all mince, of course. If we opened our eyes and re-tuned our senses we’d notice that there are many people with special or additional needs around us. And besides, what might seem to be the infinitesimally slight inconvenience of a full car park to us can be a major one for people living with disability........

© Herald Scotland