Blue Badge Renewal

iceblue_3

I have a grouse about Blue Badges. My elderly mother, now 85, has had one for 6 years. The council send no reminders about expiry, but I had diarised and applied 9 weeks before expiry, in excess of the stipulated 8 weeks. I paid extra to have the application signed for.

Having reached 8 weeks and had no response, and after checking that the mail had indeed been signed for, I rang the council office and was told that they were behind. An occupation therapist would have to speak to my mother, this would not happen for a week or so beyond expiry date, and if approved, the badge would then take a further 10-14 days to get printed.

I think this is appalling. If I had not rung them, Mum would not have (and has not had) even the courtesy of a note explaining this backlog, or apologising for the necessary and now unavoidable inconvenience for best part of a month of being without the badge. You cannot display an expired badge with "application being processed". Once it has expired, they told me (and it now has), that's it. Unless and until they decide to issue another.

Anyone else had this sort of experience or is it just here?

Lone_Ranger_2

iceblue wrote: »

I have a grouse about Blue Badges. My elderly mother, now 85, has had one for 6 years. The council send no reminders about expiry, but I had diarised and applied 9 weeks before expiry, in excess of the stipulated 8 weeks. I paid extra to have the application signed for.

Having reached 8 weeks and had no response, and after checking that the mail had indeed been signed for, I rang the council office and was told that they were behind. An occupation therapist would have to speak to my mother, this would not happen for a week or so beyond expiry date, and if approved, the badge would then take a further 10-14 days to get printed.

I think this is appalling. If I had not rung them, Mum would not have (and has not had) even the courtesy of a note explaining this backlog, or apologising for the necessary and now unavoidable inconvenience for best part of a month of being without the badge. You cannot display an expired badge with "application being processed". Once it has expired, they told me (and it now has), that's it. Unless and until they decide to issue another.

Anyone else had this sort of experience or is it just here?

You would be better to start a thread of your own and whilst I'm sure the peeps on here will try to help in may be better in one of the other topics.

Crabman

I've moved this into a new thread on the Disability and Dosh board

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Richie-from-the-Boro

- here from a year ago
- and here from March this year

HiYa iceblue, yes I've heard of a few that are slow off the mark, yours however is a soddin shambles for which there is no real excuse. The DfT sent out the info to local authorities a year early in January 2011 and reminders ever since to prepare for the start of the scheme on January 1st 2012.

pauliboo

I have renewed twice and was told to renew 3 months early.

However there is no way that she should have been treated like that, does she get any qualifiying benefits that would enable her to skip the assessment?

Richie-from-the-Boro

pauliboo wrote: »

I have renewed twice and was told to renew 3 months early.

However there is no way that she should have been treated like that, does she get any qualifying benefits that would enable her to skip the assessment?

- since Jan '12 other than a DS1500, no one is supposed to be able to skip the assessment
- as stated in an earlier # some LA's are well behind the loop even with an 18 month run in
- lets be clear there are no "qualifying benefits" other than a DS1500

McKneff

Does she driver herself of rely on others to drive her and use her badge.

The only other way (bearing in mind that it's only a few weeks) the driver could drop her off at the point where the disabled bays are, park up and then go back to where she is, and the reverse action when she wants to go home.

pauliboo

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

- since Jan '12 other than a DS1500, no one is supposed to be able to skip the assessment
- as stated in an earlier # some LA's are well behind the loop even with an 18 month run in
- lets be clear there are no "qualifying benefits" other than a DS1500

What is the DS1500?

Is this the same as the old DLA404 form to prove you had DLA HRM?

iceblue_3

Thanks for your posts. Actually this has precipitated quite a lot of interest in our family, and a quick google search shows that the system is in melt down across the country. Delays of three and four months are not uncommon with horror stories of pensioners being stranded at home, or left clinging to lamp posts for support whilst drivers go to park. It all stems from the fact that the recommendation of a gp is no longer enough, an occupational therapist has to assess each applicant regardless of age, health and history of badge entitlement.

Interestingly, the Govt blame the local authorities, who blame the Govt! Some councils have arranged an amnesty for expired badges, but not all and ours is not one of them. So, for the foreseeable future as McKneff realises the only option is drop and collect but this is not a happy solution.

What a debacle.

Richie-from-the-Boro

pauliboo wrote: »

What is the DS1500?

Is this the same as the old DLA404 form to prove you had DLA HRM?

- no a 404 is a passport to Motability or a free tax disk from the DVLA
- a 1500 is an instant passport to anything in benefit terms you might ever wish for
- believe me you never ever want a DS1500

moose1982

It was noted on the website of my local council that they are behind. Some towns will accept the expired ones, some won't, so probably best to contact the town hall of anywhere that you'll be visiting to find out what their rules are.

My local council has said that the reason for being behind is a lack of trained personnel who can carry out the examinations.