Grrr - blue badge

Blakespops

daska wrote: »

Now, I have to disagree with this being a wonderful idea... I get HRM because I have severe mobility problems. We're on an exceedingly low income, my husband also has a chronic illness and we have 3 kids including a toddler - we can't afford two cars. I've had to give up my tax disc because my husband now needs to use the car for work occasionally (he has to be able to access rural areas). So, my needs and qualifications haven't changed but all of a sudden there are car-parks where I can't use a disabled bay. What's fair or advantageous to a genuinely disabled person about that? All it means is that I'm even more excluded than I was previously... I actually can't go into my local town centre now because all the carparks are overflowing, the double yellows near the shops that are on the roads are all 'no stopping at any time' and the rest of the town centre is pedestrian only.

I agree the system needs a shake-up but limiting disabled bays to free tax disc holders discriminates against disabled people on low incomes.

One way to solve the problem would be to offer the free disc along side one at say 50% discount that could be used when the disabled person is not using the car for themselves. This way more revenue would be made and would help low income people who are stuck by the rigid rules. I am also on low income, do not drive yet and have to use public transport in wheelchair so if i do win my appeal and get HRM will be getting a car to stop the looks I get and the feeling that some people tend to treat me as if I am from Mars or someplace just because I have trouble walking. My wife does not drive so would only be me driving, she is American and says would be afrade to drive here as our roads are confusing lol.

I have a neighbour who has a blue badge for their mother who now lives in nursing home so is very rare they take her out during winter but neighbour uses blue badge saying he can park at football ground when he is going to match to save him walking. This is the type of person who is spoiling it for everyone and should be stopped from abusing the scheme.

BargainGalore

You can be on a low income and still get free tax disc, it doesn't make any difference whether your rich or poor, the only difference is you need to be on higher rate mobility DLA and only use the car for taking this disabled person whether its the passenger or the driver

If you limited only for free road tax holders that may discriminate a huge chunk of disabled holders many of whole cant drive

daska wrote: »

I agree the system needs a shake-up but limiting disabled bays to free tax disc holders discriminates against disabled people on low incomes.

daska

The 'whoever' was the DVLA... so the tax disc has gone back... thanks for that, I will ring them again. My car isn't through Motability as we purchased it before I got my DLA award.

daska

BargainGalore wrote: »

You can be on a low income and still get free tax disc, it doesn't make any difference whether your rich or poor, the only difference is you need to be on higher rate mobility DLA and only use the car for taking this disabled person whether its the passenger or the driver

If you limited only for free road tax holders that may discriminate a huge chunk of disabled holders many of whole cant drive

It might have helped if you had read my full post. "we can't afford two cars. I've had to give up my tax disc because my husband now needs to use the car for work occasionally"

As it it those people who can't afford a second car who are going to be penalised by the "only use the car for taking this disabled person whether its the passenger or the driver" rule, therefore it is, de facto, less likely that a disabled people on a low income will be able to 'afford' a free tax disc. Hence, applying the rule that only disabled people with free tax discs can use disabled bays discriminates against disabled people on low incomes.

chopperharris

Its true that if its a disabled persons motability car/tax/badge is used by those it is not intended for is commiting an offence and may even be 3 different ones.This will affect insurance premiums if convicted , and is effectively driving without road tax and can invalidate insurance which is an offence.

All it takes is anyone one of these - peed off pedestrian , another blue badge user you took a space from , you smart arsing to a copper , a workmate thats envious of your new car or even a neighbour , cctv evidence from work or doing 40 in a 30 zone and the car behind is a unmarked police car and your deep in the brown stuff.

ITs taken a long time to get a thing like motability and blue badges for those that need them to approach a decent quality of life....those that abuse it should be dragged over the coals...including those that let their partners drive them.

An excuse of not being able to afford a second car for a partners work doesnt wash with me , there is public transport and bangers.

High rate mobility , zero rated road tax and the blubadge is to provide the recipient with personal mobility not someone else with upwardmobility whether its occasional or not.If you buy the car on hp rather than lease then they can get it at the end , now just how hard is that to do?Even better get a kia and its warrantied for another four years.

Just back from the shops , parked in a bay.Older couple were more interested in looking at other cars parked around them than in taking a trolley back and suprisingly weather was good.Both were able bodied enough to push trolley there , then walk to another car to have a good look at it , left trolley on the path to block wheelchair use for others and then drove away.You cant alwaya blame the young ones for bad manners , if it was a quid in the trolley they would have returned it.

daska

chopperharris wrote: »

An excuse of not being able to afford a second car for a partners work doesnt wash with me , there is public transport and bangers.

Fair enough point but it's not just the purchase price - if you're on a low income it's impossible to justify two lots of insurance and two lots of service charges (we're not all engineers) if you only have one person who can drive.

What about pensioners, not all of them have final salary pensions and large houses to sell. A lot can just about afford to keep a car going, but most don't qualify for a free tax disc. Another group of low income people who lose out big time by this rule that is supposed to make things fairer.

My OH can't use public transport for his work and if he had to use taxis he may as well not bother because the charges would outweigh what he could earn.

Single people and those with incomes large enough to afford to run more than one car gain. Families and couples on a low income find paying for a tax disc is far cheaper than running two cars - therefore my comment about people on low incomes not being able to afford the free tax disc.

What worries me is that, having spoken with Motability and the DVLA, again, is that they give out totally opposing information. Ultimately it is the DVLA that issues the tax disc so I'll stick with my expensive one for the sake of the few trips per year that my OH needs to use the car for.

And, getting back to the point, that means I am no longer allowed to park in the disabled spaces... GRRRRR...

daska

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I was just thinking that if you AND your husband are BOTH disabled can't you just pick two of the cheapest cars with motability that don't require a deposit? You don't pay for anything for the two cars, just petrol, everything is done by motability, eg. servicing, tyres insurance.

Would that solve the problem?

Thank you for the suggestion. No, my husband has a chronic illness and, while he has regular care needs due to the treatment for this, he certainly doesn't qualify for the HRM - last week he went off to survey a cliff face in an AONB and came back with an abandoned lawnmower! Hence needing our car - not everyone can take advantage of public transport - most of the places he works are nowhere near railways and buses don't tend to be too frequent on a cliff face either (though possibly more frequent than my OH getting paid employment :rolleyes:, though bless him he tries, he just doesn't have the training and experience to take an office job and isn't physically capable of sustaining a manual job on a week in, week out basis) and taxis will generally refuse to put refuse in their boots... And we rely on my DLA to cover basics (such as rent and utilities). Having said that I am considering selling the current car because an automatic would give me more scope for being independent, but using motability for a car large enough for 5 would use the entire mobility allowance and need a bigger deposit than I could get for the current car...

A low income is a b*****:mad:

lilwatchergirl

chopperharris wrote: »

Its true that if its a disabled persons motability car/tax/badge is used by those it is not intended for is commiting an offence and may even be 3 different ones.This will affect insurance premiums if convicted , and is effectively driving without road tax and can invalidate insurance which is an offence.

Not if the person is a 'named driver' on a Motability car. In that case, they are allowed to drive it, despite the tax-free staus of the car. My partner drives my tax-free car; it is perfectly legal, because of being a named driver on my Motability scheme.

tenacioust123

lilwatchergirl wrote: »

Not if the person is a 'named driver' on a Motability car. In that case, they are allowed to drive it, despite the tax-free staus of the car. My partner drives my tax-free car; it is perfectly legal, because of being a named driver on my Motability scheme.

Only if you are driving it with the disabled person in the car or you are doing something on there behalf i.e picking up a prescription. If a named driver drove to and from work this would invalidate the insurance and the tax.

daska

tenacioust123 wrote: »

Only if you are driving it with the disabled person in the car or you are doing something on there behalf i.e picking up a prescription. If a named driver drove to and from work this would invalidate the insurance and the tax.

Not according to motability and their insurance company it wouldn't, and you can pay an extra premium to have it for business use (i.e. their ordinary premium covers home to place of work) - this is where the advice given by motability and the dvla diverges. Motability told me that if I got a car from them then OH using it for business would be fine as he is my main carer and I would need him to be able to get home quickly if there was an emergency. DVLA just say 'no'.