Blue badge expired, it's going to take me 2 months to get a new one !!!

easy

Ok, so it's partly my fault.

When I parked last week, I suddenly realised that my badge expired in January :eek:. I've been using it, never noticed (in mitigation, where we used to live the council sent out reminders). Apparently no one else noticed either .

So I've rung the local council, who say I must make a new application, which will take 6 weeks to process. which seems a long time, but ......

They need confirmation of my DLA award, on a letter dated within the last 3 years. I can't believe that there is no way for the departments to swap this info between themselves anyway

Now I get letters from time to time, but the last one that actually stated my award was indefinate was in 2003.

So I've rung DWP to ask for a confirmation letter. This will take 7 to 10 days, and no, they can't email it, they don't have that facility (nice to know our govt departments are sooooo up to date).

So by the time I've waited for the letter from DWP, then sent off my application and waited 6 weeks for the council to move, it will take 2 flaming months (during which I can't park in town, so will need my other half to go everywhere with me to park and come back for me.

As I say, I know it's my fault, but in this day and age surely this sort of thing should be easier than this....

daska

The vaguaries of red tape - yes it seems daft that an award of HRM doesn't arrive with a blue badge in the envelope, almost as daft as duplicating admin costs by collecting tax and then distributing tax credits...

pazza

You've been getting away with using an expired Blue Badge for almost 4 months, a few more weeks won't hurt.

Broken_hearted

It is a £2,000 fine if caught misusing a badge. I would not risk it.

easy

pazza wrote: »

You've been getting away with using an expired Blue Badge for almost 4 months, a few more weeks won't hurt.

I haven't been "getting away " with it, in the sense that
a) I am totally eligible for the badge and
b) I genuinely hadn't realised that it had expired

So there has been no deliberate dishonesty on my part.

I don't think I dare risk using it now for on-street parking, cos I can't afford a £25 parking fine, never mind a £2,000 misuse one.

kazzah

could you ask your council for a letter to put in your car windscreen stating your badge is being renewed?
our council sends these automatically so when you return your old badge you can pop the letter in the car windscreen and wardens or parking officers know you are legit so to speak

pazza

Sorry, I didn’t mean ‘getting away with it’ in the fraudulent sense, just that you were using an expired one.

I think you’d have to be unlucky for someone to notice the date. Maybe some careful placing of the accompanying clock should do the trick.


I also wouldn’t suggest displaying any kind of letter or note on your dashboard, as this will just draw attention to the fact you aren’t displaying a legit Blue Badge. And in my experiences traffic wardens NEVER give you the benefit of the doubt.

somebody_else

pazza wrote: »

I think you’d have to be unlucky for someone to notice the date. Maybe some careful placing of the accompanying clock should do the trick.

I wouldn't recommend that either - when it happens round here, it generally means that the badge is no longer valid and it just draws attention to the fact.

easy

I remember once getting a parking ticket (years back) because my clock had slipped on the dash, and was covering the date on my badge. Otherwise I would have agreed about judiciously placing the clock thing.

I think the reason no one has noticed so far is that the date is a bit faded, and the way it is hand-written 14/01/2009 can easily be misread as october rather than january.

I'm just going to have to avoid on-street parking for now. A bit of a nuisance cos I have a city centre meeting next week, which will be difficult for me to get to.

I feel so stupid for not noticing (busy life), but still cross with the authorities that there is no way to speed up the process.

black_paw

i agree lots of red tape. better if they could talk to each other

kazzah

pazza wrote: »

Sorry, I didn’t mean ‘getting away with it’ in the fraudulent sense, just that you were using an expired one.



I also wouldn’t suggest displaying any kind of letter or note on your dashboard, as this will just draw attention to the fact you aren’t displaying a legit Blue Badge. And in my experiences traffic wardens NEVER give you the benefit of the doubt.

As I said in my post, our local council ( who also employ the traffic wardens ) routinely ISSUE these letters saying the badge is in for renewal
once the wardens see the official letter from the council department dealing with the blue badges and the official logo on the letter, they know they have a bona fide blue badge holder whose badge is simply away for renewal - I didn't mean that the OP should put thier own letter in the windscreen - merely ask the council if they issue an Official one