Doesn't a handicap placard mean...

[Dreamstalker]

...that you need to park close to the store?

Our pickup spaces are located at the far end of the parking lot...a nightmare in bad weather, but the company isn't going to do anything to remedy that so I deal with it an encourage my customers who complain about it to mention it in the survey. One of the issues we have is store customers parking in the pickup spots. Usually it's not a problem except when my department is busy and/or a pickup customer's vehicle info happens to be the same as a lot of other cars (PU car is a 'silver sedan', when the system announces their arrival there are three silver/gray sedans in the reserved spaces). When I see a car in the pickup spots that is clearly unoccupied I stick a paper under the windshield wiper (essentially a polite reminder that the spaces are reserved and implying that the car will be ticketed the next time).

I'm watching my camera that's trained on those spaces and see a car pull in, a guy with a cane get out and come into the store (hmmm). I can see he's clearly uncomfortable walking that distance. I wait until I'm sure he's in the building--he immediately got in one of the mobility scooters by the door--then zip out to tag the car.

It has a handicap placard on the windshield. Placard but no handicap plate, and the placard doesn't have the plate # filled in. Even if it did, what would possess a clearly disabled customer to park in the far end of the lot? All the regular handicap spaces were empty, so methinks this guy thought he's making some sort of point only to himself.

[csquared]

It could be that he is not the owner of the placard? Following the letter of the law, if the owner of the placard is not in the vehicle...

But he is still an asshole for parking in the pickup spaces.

[Dreamstalker]

I vote for not the owner. I didn't think to take a picture of the relevant info...note to self for the next time this happens (as I'm sure it will, my town is that entitled).

[csquared]

Even though I posted the idea, I'm not so sure. If he is enough of an ass to park in the pickup spaces, why wouldn't he park in the handicap spaces?

[Ironclad Alibi]

Even though I posted the idea, I'm not so sure. If he is enough of an ass to park in the pickup spaces, why wouldn't he park in the handicap spaces?

Parking in a handicap space illegally can result in a large fine. Parking in pick-up, pregnant, veteran's, electric vehicle, etc, usually do not result in fines. (I said usually because things change over time.)

[Dreamstalker]

We should be allowed to fine in-store customers that take up the pickup spaces; that was the thinking behind putting them so far away, so people wouldn't randomly park there unless the lot was actually completely full (which never happens). Eh, this town drives me nuts sometimes.

[csquared]

Parking in a handicap space illegally can result in a large fine.

He's an old man,. He used a mobility scooter when he got inside. He has a placard, Nobody is going to challenge him.

Which, I just realized is probably the point.

[Rosco the Iroc]

Depending on the state, you can get a placard for yourself not the car, so if you get a ride with someone you can hang it up there. Not all are assigned to a car. I think he was legit.

[Seanette]

In California, the placard goes with the person, not the vehicle. There is an option for disabled plates for vehicles, though. The temporary permit my husband had while his broken leg was healing was red, while longer-term ones (such as someone I used to know who used a walker due to problems like vertigo) are blue.

[workerbee222]

Being old - might he have thought the pick-up spaces were closer to the door than he knew or remembered?

[taxguykarl]

In California, the placard goes with the person, not the vehicle.

That's the case in Illinois as well. When we expect to rent a vehicle when travelling, we take her placard with us as it is recognized in all US states, most Canadian provinces and some Mexican states as well.
Also technically here in Illinois, it is illegal to use the placard by someone else. Thus when I drive by myself, I have to use the regular spaces; but when Mrs, TGK (the authorized user) is with me, we use the accessible spaces.
That being said, there is the option but not the obligation to use the accessible spaces, Dream.

[Dreamstalker]

Here, the placard is issued to the person (although it should have the user's name printed clearly), not the vehicle. So I guess it's legal to do what he did, but still a dick move. Maybe the placard wasn't quite legit or wasn't his and he didn't want to risk getting pinched in a real handicap spot?