It’s nice that that officer was fine with it, but simply having a disability does not give you the right to park in one of those spaces. (Nor does having a passenger with a disability.) You have to get a placard. You can get a placard even if you don’t have a car. You just take it with you and hang it up in the driver’s car when they park. My mother-in-law doesn’t drive but she has one.
I’d expect that occasionally handling this sort of situation is part of a cashier’s job.
Unfortunately I can’t make my clients go get one, and I can’t force them to walk a distance that I know they can’t manage. (These are people who use walkers, canes, or wheelchairs.) All I can do is handle each situation as best I can. At least if someone cares to look, they can see that I have left a message re: handicapped passenger, hopefully avoiding some of the frustration that people feel when seeing an un-tagged car parked in a designated space. Beyond that, if I got a ticket I’d hand it to my client and he can pay it.
I’d have done the same as you, but it might be worth mentioning to your client that she can get a placard, if she didn’t realize she was eligible for one.
There isn’t any kind of “official caregiver license” or something?
My Beloved has such a placard, even though she doesn’t drive. Whenever someone drives her someplace she pulls it out of her handbag and hangs it on the rearview mirror.
I might be missing something, but could you let them out right at the front door and then go park in a regular spot yourself, papergirl?
This is what I do when I take my Mom anywhere. She can’t walk very far, but I need the exercise.
Recently, I was in traffic court because I had been cited for reckless driving. One of the first cases they handled was a guy who had been cited for parking in a handicapped space without a placard. He said he had forgotten to hang it on his mirror and showed it to the prosecuting attorney. The charges were dropped.
I just thought that maybe that might be relevant.
It’s not, as long as you note that you’re the person bolding it.
He’s already been threatened on at least one occassion when he tried something like this, IIRC.
My folks have a tag. Sometimes when I drive just my dad we forget to grab the tag. My dad cannot be left alone to drop him off while I park elsewhere. He is just too fragile and can get confused. It becomes very awkward when the tag gets forgotten; I am conflicted as to what to do. Generally I just try to park close and help him walk (he’s not terribly immobile, just very elderly), or go back and retrieve it.
For the record, he did.
Note that Czarcasm admitted he was in error, in an edit to the post where he first brought it up:
I didn’t go back to look at the original mod post, but the issue is being addressed in ATMB anyway.
And I see now that I somehow quoted Guinistasia while meaning to quote Czarcasm. Apologies!
Perhaps…but in the case as told by the OP, the woman had been told it needed to be displayed, and she put it back in the glove compartment anyway. I don’t think she could claim “I forgot” as an excuse.
No prob-when I wear these shoes I am oft mistaken for her.
Thank you for the thought that I’m cool. As a Certified Old Fart, my knowledge of current slang consists mostly of what I’m able to pick up online.
She was only told by jamie. I’m guessing she didn’t see him as a real authority.
For all those accusing me of playing “parking lot crusader” or trying to make a “citizens arrest”, I say you are all guilty of comedic-levels of hyperbole and conflating prior stories of mine with what happened here. ALL I did, when I noticed a car pull up and park (and the driver get out) in the handicap-accessible parking spot right next to me without any permit on display, was ask the passing woman if she had such a permit. She then flipped out on me and I just told her she was breaking the law by doing what she was doing. How is that SO different from the suggestions (which were WARMLY embraced here) by others here to mention to her that she is risking getting towed? Do you think her reaction would have been less hostile? Doubt it.
After that, she went inside. After I glance over at the old lady in the car in frustration and bewilderment, she tells me that they do in fact have a permit, and takes it out of the glovebox. After I see this, all I did was ask her if the person driving her knew that it was in fact illegal to park in a handicap spot without having that permit on display. That seems like a fair question. No demand, no crusading action; a question.
After that, I went back inside, where I run into the woman again. Now knowing that she had parked in the spot without putting up the placard she had, I just said to her that when you park in handicap spots, that placard is supposed to be displayed. And then I asked why couldn’t she have done that? And this took place while we were both in a checkout line. I wasn’t doggedly pursuing her, I didn’t go in after her; it was dialogue that transpired as a result of standing next to each other.
THAT was the extent of my “parking lot crusading” and my “vigilante justice”. Pretty timid and lame for vigilantism, if you ask me. 
You asked her if she had a permit. You told her she was breaking the law.
If you can’t see the difference between that and a comment such as ‘hey dude, they ticket people who park there without a permit’ then it’s no wonder you encounter so much agression in your life.