Hiya everyone
So what do you think of this.
My brother-in-law has just been bragging to us about his new BMW.
He got it through his father, his dad gets full mobility so got him the BMW, my BIL gets the full use of the car...no tax to pay, no insurance, no repairs, no bills, full valeting service and car servicing including tyres etc, all he needs to pay for is, the petrol and he gives his dad the £180 a month his dad loses from his disability benifits to pay for the car. He doesn't even drive the car for his dad so his dad gets no use of it whats so ever.
I am so angry that people abuse this system, surely this must be illegal to do. I asked why he just doesn't get his own car on finance and the car would be legally his, but basically he said, you can't get a BMW for £180 a month.
Angel x
In a nutshell, a b*y ptake of the highest order!:mad:
The only advice i can offer is perhaps phone the DLA helpline ( a google should find this) and ask them for their opinion.
Warmest wishes- calla lily x
Calla Lily, there is nothing I would like more that to phone the DLA, but I would feel so guilty at doing this as this is my BIL. I have no feelings for the man, I don't even like him, he is so smug, but this is just the worst form of dissing the system I've seen. I'm sure he would only talk his way out of the situation too.
Ooh I know what you mean, I would be mad too. Most people work hard for what they have. The government take money from us to pay for that car. Surely if the powers that be, knew his father was receiving this benefit in the form of a car and wasn't using it, but giving it to someone else, I think they would have something to say.
There are so many loopholes in the claims system though, your brother in law would just have to say he drives his father around and they would have to prove otherwise.
This is the sort of dishonesty thats crippling the country. The films I've seen on TV of people claiming disability benefits and then window cleaning or running marathons or taking part in dangerous sporting activities, it unbelievable.
Then you have the people that need more and the system says 'no'.
Maybe the goverment should start to do secret videoing twice a year on the people who get these cars, think of the money that would be saved. I'm sure they would catch my father-in-law running to the pub every afternoon more than once or twice, there is nothing wrong with him come opening time.
Hiya everyone
So what do you think of this.
My brother-in-law has just been bragging to us about his new BMW.
He got it through his father, his dad gets full mobility so got him the BMW, my BIL gets the full use of the car...no tax to pay, no insurance, no repairs, no bills, full valeting service and car servicing including tyres etc, all he needs to pay for is, the petrol and he gives his dad the £180 a month his dad loses from his disability benifits to pay for the car. He doesn't even drive the car for his dad so his dad gets no use of it whats so ever.
I am so angry that people abuse this system, surely this must be illegal to do. I asked why he just doesn't get his own car on finance and the car would be legally his, but basically he said, you can't get a BMW for £180 a month.
Angel x
Calla Lily said you could report.
I would say that it is the duty of everyone to report such blatant abuse. If it was me, a written report would be with the [url]appropriate Government department whose website is here.[/url]
[url]A rather more pictorial site is here [/url]
I regret to say that abuse of the disability benefit system is very widespread, in my experience. I have seen perfectly able people park in disabled and normal spaces using a disabled badge- frequently.
It's time these abuses stopped.
Regards.
i hate to see this abused, as one who gets the car on disability if i could have a day without pain i would give it up, in this last year i have seen my mobilty go, for example i cannot walk for a time and i need my car to get about when i have a distance to walk, i had a car before i got the dla and i got the car because i have to rely on transport to do the things now that i used to take fore granted. if a see a parking space that i know another person worse off than me i leave it for them. but we are always going to get those who abuse it, but i do feel now that it is harder to get it, i know my doctor had to write to them and they had my scan results to see how bad mine had got, but there is some good actors out there, so maybe the dla should look at everyones hospital records to see what has happened to them.
Hiya CR
I know you personally and see you need your car, your car is your lifeline, without it, you would be grounded. It's just timewasters and brilliant actors like my father-in-law that iritate the life out of me.
I know it is hard to get disability, my hubby was on it 12 years ago after a bad car accident and the forms and tests he had to go through to get it were rigorous back then. But once his injuries were healed, he got up and went back to work.
I don't think they is a test out there yet that can prove that you are faking a bad back, so the docs just have to take people's word for it.
Calla Lily, there is nothing I would like more that to phone the DLA, but I would feel so guilty at doing this as this is my BIL. .
Angel
Have you talked to your sister about this? How does she feel about it?
x
I regret to say that abuse of the disability benefit system is very widespread, in my experience. I have seen perfectly able people park in disabled and normal spaces using a disabled badge- frequently.
It's time these abuses stopped.
Regards.
You are so right, every time and i mean every time I go to the supermarket there is someone who takes up a disabled parking place gets out of the car and has a hop skip and a jump into the shop. Even when I had very small children running in every direction and buggy's to deal with in horrible weather, I never ever used a disabled parking space, they should be caught. I would love to be there when they are!
Hiya Daniela
It's my hubby's brother not my sister, hubby said something but was told that he was only "jelouse" that it wasn't him driving.
Hiya Daniela
It's my hubby's brother not my sister, hubby said something but was told that he was only "jelouse" that it wasn't him driving.
Oops sorry, wrong assumption there...
Shame that your hubby cannot see what is wrong in his own brother's behavior.
I would be extremely tempted to report him.
.
My hubby is furious at his behavior. Hubby works really hard to pay for his car and is annoyed that the tax that is taken from his wages each month goes towards people like this.
thats not fair! :mad:you could report it anonymously and never admit to family that it was you who did it ever.deny it.( to protect yourself and family)
if your bil is boasting it to all and sundry i expect someone will report him sooner or later.
Amethystfairy
Hello all at HP,
I agree that this abuse should be looked into and stopped but unfortunatley it is legal because like someone has said the problem is proving that the BIL does not drive Angel's father-in law about. I have a close, personal friend who works in this department of the disability section of the DSS and she says they get literally hundreds of reports a week about this but they don't have the resources to prove that the person the car is allocated to is not being driven around in it.
Love and Peace
Rebecca xx
Hi Angel,
I always like to think of these things as a test . . . for you. You can either react to it, or not react. That's when the next part of your life begins from that moment.
My view is that the universe always cashes in a debt. What ever goes round comes round, and, what you give out you get back (and multiplied). Sit back and know that the return will come for your brother-in-law and it need not necessarily be from your hand.
Send him your love.
Cheers
Calla Lily, there is nothing I would like more that to phone the DLA, but I would feel so guilty at doing this as this is my BIL. I have no feelings for the man, I don't even like him, he is so smug, but this is just the worst form of dissing the system I've seen. I'm sure he would only talk his way out of the situation too.
a) As swordfish says, Karma will come bite him on the bum.
b) You say you have no feelings for the man, so why would you feel guilty.
c) It's your family's taxes that are paying for him to drive around in that BMW, so if you're happy for him to take your money then fine. He obviously doesn't care about the fact you are paying for his car, why should you care about reporting him. 😉
With all the latest rises in prices in our economy why do you think this happens. It's because of people being greedy for material things. Help to stop people like this for everyone, not just for yourself.
Love and Reiki Hugs
Agreeee
I have just read a bit of this thread, and so agree with reporting these kind of abusers. I run training courses in massage, for Physiotherapists, and some 4 years ago, when I moved to a new premises a buddhist friend offered to help train IHM. She appeared on my marketing and publicity shots taken of her working on local radio presenters in the local paper.
All was fine for two training courses, and then she told me that she was on incapacity benefit unable to 'work' !
I was livid that she hadn't shared this with me, especially because I knew that she also worked at a local Dog rescue cleaning out kennels, and had just delivered 100's of copies of Yellow Pages.
I do understand the regs with regard incapacity benefit, and knew that she could do graded work..... but this was undeclared work.
Needless to say because she refused to tell the DHSS what she was doing work training I decided not to have her involved in my business.
Funny thing is that when I chatted it out with her she said
'I feel as if you are accusing me of cheating the system'...well what could I say but agree
Sorry to rant.
Jill Wigmore-Welsh
My personal experience
You are so right, every time and i mean every time I go to the supermarket there is someone who takes up a disabled parking place gets out of the car and has a hop skip and a jump into the shop. Even when I had very small children running in every direction and buggy's to deal with in horrible weather, I never ever used a disabled parking space, they should be caught. I would love to be there when they are!
Thank you serene,
for your post.
My considered opinion is that the disability benefit system in this country is abused extensively with callous disregard for the consequences. As several posters have stated, one could always stand back and let somebody else deal with the problem. The Government, the local authority, the Police, anyone except us.
Unfortunately, the Police cannot be everywhere, all the time. No one can. It is certainly easier to simply stand back and let the authorities deal with it. In that case, when innocent men, women and children are killed and maimed in an atrocity committed by a terrorist, we should not wander why his/her relatives or friends said nothing.
I remember a horrific case in which a woman was raped in the carriage of a commuter train in this country. The carriage was not empty. The other passengers did nothing. Perhaps they waited for the Police to make an appearance.
But though reported in the news media, these are still hearsay. I would like to cite one incident from my own experience.
My wife and I visited the local town centre in our car, to do some shopping. There were very few normal on-street parking spaces and all were occupied. Plenty of free on-street spaces for the disabled though. I dropped off my wife and parked in a distant space and walked back.
I was annoyed. Because one of the rare normal on-street spaces was occupied by a 4x4 displaying a disabled sticker. Yet only 50 yards down the road, there were plenty of on-street spaces for the disabled, free to park.
Unusually, the driver was in the 4x4 and eating some sort of pasty or burger. Normally, I would have walked off but I had to take a stand. Since it was a female driver (est. age 35-40) I waited for her to finish and waited on the kerb. After about 5-7 minutes she finished and I approached the vehicle with trepidation, as I am male and not a white caucasian.
I asked her as gently and politely as I could, why she was not parked in the disabled space only 50 yards to the front (which was still empty). She replied:
"Do you lurk around here, just waiting to accost people". Her language was actually far more colourful and colloquial. Sadly I am unable to reproduce that, as I am singularly inept with the vernacular.
I said "No madam! I am an ordinary shopper and there are very few spaces for the non-disabled. I would have liked to have parked here and you could have still parked in the disabled space 50 yards to the front." She said
"I will be gone in a minute".
That's it. No apologies, nothing. She was, I believe, most obstreperous.
And indeed she drove off after two minutes.
No disability on her part that I could detect. No disabled passengers either. Nothing.
In my experience, such behaviour has become the norm where I live.
Regards.
Prashna
Well I wouldn't worry much about that. There is a thing called karma, what goes around comes around 🙂
Totally off topic, but I presume this is an official website. Has anyone noticed how they have spelled 'Finish'. I despair.
xxx
I know someone who bought a lovely little red Mazda with their daughters disability benefit. She uses a wheelchair and I can promise you it did not fit in the car - the poor girl never got to drive in it.
My mum had a disability car which she used to get her to the local shops, town and the hospital, it was a lifeline for her when she lived in the village, as the hill to get to the bus stop was quite a way and it was hard with sticks. I used the car probably three times when she wasn't in it (moving my stuff to uni and back. But used it to take her longer distances and for days out.
I believe the system is poor, strictly speaking the car should NEVER be used without the disabled person in it, although you can use it to pick up shopping / prescriptions for them.
I disagree with the whole DLA situation, it is highly abused. I think people should apply for such things and the government make direct payments to the companies involved once the recipient has applied and explained why they need it. You'd be surprised to know how many families use the money for their disabled relatives welfare for foreign holidays and new kitchens. The equipment they need is largely given to them free by the government, so often they are paid twice for this.
There are so many people on DLA who just want the money and don't want to work, they claim they cannot get out of the house, cannot work, have no quality of life and yet they are seen wandering about town / in pubs / going out to nice places by their social workers and GPs, who can do precious little to remedy the situation, some are told not to process the reports - how wrong is this and consequently, how many deserving people miss out because of them?
Don't get me wrong here, disabled people often do need support, but with a system as flawed as this, noone wins.
as i said earlier i always try to park were i am not obstucting anybody, and i have seen many times people abusing this, i hear the blue badge is sold or passed on to other members of family. i tell you no one would get mine to me this is something given to you to make a little easier. a lot of places i go i still pay for car parking and in one i go to they have disabled parking which you pay for but thses spaces are the furthest away from the machine. but talking about those who abuse the system i see loads of cars parked in the disabled parking spaces bbut with no badge in the window, i asked about this once at a store and they said they rely on people being considerate to others.
as i said earlier i always try to park were i am not obstucting anybody, and i have seen many times people abusing this, i hear the blue badge is sold or passed on to other members of family. i tell you no one would get mine to me this is something given to you to make a little easier. a lot of places i go i still pay for car parking and in one i go to they have disabled parking which you pay for but thses spaces are the furthest away from the machine. but talking about those who abuse the system i see loads of cars parked in the disabled parking spaces bbut with no badge in the window, i asked about this once at a store and they said they rely on people being considerate to others.
Hi crystal_rose,
I truly sympathise with you in your condition.
I certainly have never deprived any disabled person of a parking space, nor would I contemplate doing so.
I agree that some able people do park in 'disabled' spaces. It is possible that they feel squeezed out by the few on-street normal parking spaces left being taken by drivers displaying 'disabled' badges.
It should be noted though that able drivers can be and are fined for parking in disabled spaces. AFAIK, the opposite does not apply.
I wish you well.
Prashna
all we can ask for is the everybody is considerate of others unfortunely this does not happen, i mean we have all seen these people parking in parent and child places plus the disabled spaces, if i park in a normal space which i only do if i see the disabled places are taken. i have seen disabled badge holders parking double yellow lines , which we are allowed to do as long as you do not cause a obstruction but i feel we should not because they are double yellow lines for a reason and if you can get fined if you do not hold a badge to park there so i feel that no one should park there
Referring back to the original post from Angel, quote;
he gives his dad the £180 a month his dad loses from his disability benifits to pay for the car. He doesn't even drive the car for his dad so his dad gets no use of it whats so ever.
Going back a few years admittedly, but it used to cost £150 for a basic Fiat. I can't help think that £180 for a BMW is just the top up amount that needs paying. If it is, his Dad is still paying the normal amount for the car that the mobility allowance gives. (Crystal-Rose will probably be able to give more idea what kind of car you get for the basic allowance). But the whole point is that this allowance is for getting around wether it's used for a car, train fares, bus or taxis etc. Anyone who doesn't need help getting around should be honest and say they don't need that particular benefit and not claim it. Ha, and pigs might fly!:rolleyes:
when i got mine i decided i was using to get a relible mode of transport, otherwise i would be stuck if my old car broke down. i choose a renalt megane and i paid £300 for a depoiset and my full £180 a month, this car i choose for me was ideal it is higher than the smaller cars and therefore easier for me to get in to, also the layout of the car makes it easier for me. my sister in law gets this benefit through ill health and her and her husband decided to pay alot more for the one off payment because they would like to uy the car when it is three years old. you see you can use this money to buy a car but in my case i want one that is going to be realible for me at all times. hope that helps
I agree with ''Swordfish'', What goes around comes around so he might be
laughing now but normally things have a nasty thing of turning around.
I just can't imagine what the deposit down for a BMW is, my BIL would not say. I tried googling out of interest and one site showed approx a £4,000 deposit would be needed.......can't imagine where on earth they would get that kind of money....but then it did say, help can be obtained with deposits...so who knows.
Angel x
I just can't imagine what the deposit down for a BMW is, my BIL would not say. I tried googling out of interest and one site showed approx a £4,000 deposit would be needed.......can't imagine where on earth they would get that kind of money....but then it did say, help can be obtained with deposits...so who knows.
Angel x
Depends on the BMW, of course!
A 318i SE with an official pricetag of £22,065
may need a deposit of £2,750
followed by regular payments of £350/month for 5 years or so.
If a guaranteed resale value is required the payments will be higher.
But then, there are cheaper BMW's (not many) and dearer (lots).