Disabled spaces will be monitored by campaigners

It is part of a campaign called Baywatch which aims to put pressure on parking providers to ensure the disabled spaces are available.

Volunteers are being asked to monitor store car parks and fill out a survey of what they see.

Campaigners in Wales have welcomed the initiative.

Coral Williams, chair of the Cardiff and Vale British Polio Association, said able-bodied drivers parking in disabled spaces was already a huge problem.

There are so many people who are elderly, infirm and disabled and need these spaces Coral Williams, British Polio Association

"It is very frustrating," she said.

"This is something that is going on all of the time and we really need to do something about it because there are an awful lot of drivers who rely on these spaces."

Mrs Williams said she believed that the problem was worsening and that initiatives to highlight the problem were welcomed by many disabled drivers.

The biggest complaint we get in our stores is about the issue of disabled parking Asda

"There are so many people who are elderly, infirm and disabled and need these spaces and yet very often you see people parking in the spaces when they shouldn't be doing so," she added.

As part of the Baywatch scheme, people are asked to go along to their local supermarket car parks at peak periods and monitor the amount of disabled spaces being used by able-bodied motorists.

Douglas Campbell, from the Disabled Drivers Association, said that the problem in Wales was comparable to the rest of the UK and was particularly bad in the bigger towns and cities.

"It really is very frustrating for people to go to the supermarket and see that all the disabled spaces are taken up, many by people who are not disabled," he said.

Spaces

The car parks of Asda, Tesco, Safeway and Sainsbury's across the country are being monitored and the results will be used to put pressure on the stores to find ways of stopping the spaces from being used by the wrong people.

The supermarkets have already responded with several schemes which includes Tesco stores in Cardiff installing a mini-barrier system on its disabled car parking spaces.

Customers lower the barrier using a key fob and the barrier automatically rises once the motorist leaves the space.

Asda have introduced a loud speaker system called Space Hog around its disabled car park paces which goes off whenever someone parks in one of these spots.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "The biggest complaint we get in our stores is about the issue of disabled parking.

"People get very angry over the abuse of it and we are trying to do all we can to encourage our customers to be more aware of the situation."

The Baywatch survey will end on 16 January and the results will be available later in the year.