Blue Badges & Parking

BobQ

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

No M8 you have to believe the truth. The truth is your dad intended no such thing and is entitled to stand up and say so. On a very unlucky day you will get a 'pig' in the council office who needs a gentle shock of the 'cattle prod' of humanity to point them in the general direction the .. .. reasonableness .. .. of the mistake your dad made. Be softly spoken .. .. even between grunts a pig will come to realise the difference between a whining crook and a decent old fellah who clutching the pile of stuff mistakenly put out the wrong badge .. .. evidenced by the fact he had the 'in force' correct badge.

Rich, you are going over the top on this one. Council staff are not pigs they are human beings with a job to do. If those in charge are directed by the DforT to enforce the rules then that is what they have to do. Many people have complained about abuse of the BB Scheme so the outcome is to tighten up the rules. Those who use BBs cannot have it both ways they either use the badge legally or accept the consequences. In this case the system is making no judgement.

Failure to display a valid BB incurs a parking fine in a council carpark - its simple and abusng the people who are expected to enforce it does not change the fact. You can make all sorts of exceptions for good reasons but these just create loopholes.

Richie-from-the-Boro

BobQ wrote: »

Rich, you are going over the top on this one. Council staff are not pigs they are human beings with a job to do. If those in charge are directed by the DforT to enforce the rules then that is what they have to do. Many people have complained about abuse of the BB Scheme so the outcome is to tighten up the rules. Those who use BBs cannot have it both ways they either use the badge legally or accept the consequences. In this case the system is making no judgement.

Failure to display a valid BB incurs a parking fine in a council carpark - its simple and abusing the people who are expected to enforce it does not change the fact. You can make all sorts of exceptions for good reasons but these just create loopholes.

Within any day we can all be an unhelpful 'pig' maybe for minute, maybe longer, maybe not at all that day. What I said was """on a very unlucky day you will get a 'pig' in the council office""" this is true of all human beings. I went on to say """Be softly spoken .. .. even between grunts a pig will come to realise the difference between a whining crook and a decent old fellah who clutching the pile of stuff who mistakenly put out the wrong badge"""

I don't accept what you say at all, there are safeguards in place under the new BB rules, in this case the O/P's dad had a valid badge and the offence was so low level as to deserve reconsideration [Specifically : discretion used about issuing penalty charge notice] on the fine and a warning.

BobQ

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

I don't accept what you say at all, there are safeguards in place under the new BB rules, in this case the O/P's dad had a valid badge and the offence was so low level as to deserve reconsideration [Specifically : discretion used about issuing penalty charge notice] on the fine and a warning.

You not accepting something does not make me incorrect. As I said you can make all sorts of exceptions but these just create loopholes.

In this case I agree the OP's dad probably did this by accident and the council may choose to exempt him from the fine. But if they choose not to exempt him this does not make them wrong, because for every genuine case like this there will be someone who is using the loophole to get some advantage.

steve_2012

well we sent an email outlining our challenge and pics of the in date and now cut up out of date BBs.
i phoned just to check a few things and they said it might take 14 days. dad phoned at lunchtime and said he has a letter basically stating it was quashed.
there was a paragraph stating that if it happens again it will not be quashed.
so my faith is restored, i really didnt think they would overturn it, not because the implication of fraud as that never even entered my head till you guys mentioned it.
a big thanks for all the posts helping us out with advice and the calm your self approach from savvy sue :cool:.

steve

Richie-from-the-Boro

steve_2012 wrote: »

well we sent an email outlining our challenge and pics of the in date and now cut up out of date BBs.
i phoned just to check a few things and they said it might take 14 days. dad phoned at lunchtime and said he has a letter basically stating it was quashed.
there was a paragraph stating that if it happens again it will not be quashed.
so my faith is restored, i really didnt think they would overturn it, not because the implication of fraud as that never even entered my head till you guys mentioned it.
a big thanks for all the posts helping us out with advice and the calm your self approach from savvy sue :cool:.

steve

You're welcome Ste, that fits with the new [3 strikes and you're out] BB rules, they used their discretion on this your dads first offence. Reinforce to your dad the need to avoid any repeat.

leedsmodus

mazza111 wrote: »

Was £20 when we renewed my mum's a few months back. Got it back within about a week. Each council is different though. In mum's council it's still the social work dept who have the forms for it. In our council you have to go to the first stop shop, which is a pain because you can never get parked near it because of road works. 18 months of road works here in the town centre, it's no wonder we have shops closing all over the place.

The council does not process your application. They all get sent to a central office in England and despatched from there. Yes you pay your council £10 but the badge and application is not dealt by them

leedsmodus

steve_2012 wrote: »

sorry for being slightly off topic:
my dad parked his car today and used his BB when he returned an hour later he had a parking ticket, £25 within 14 days or £50 if he appeals.
i assume they take a photo to prove no display of BB etc etc.
when i went to his place later on today he showed me his photocard and what he had done was put on his previous card which ran out in 2011 (why he has kept this i dont know).
he was parked in the same county council area as the BB was issued and he has the correct card (the reason he gave me was he used his car manual in the week and somehow the old BB was at the top).
so what im asking is would he likely get this quashed by appealing or would they just say hard luck.
on the parking ticket it gives his tax disc number so this will tell them he is disabled as well as there own records of issuing the new BB early last year.
i realise he is in the wrong but it is by complete accident although he should i gather have cut up the old one he said to me tonight "i had just never taken it out of the car".
any advise welcome.
thanks...............

Admit your at fault and pay up. Human ERROR. If i forget to pay my Gas Bill will I hold British Gas responsible? erm no.
You could appeal but unless you have shown the warden at the time of the fine a valid blue badge you have no recourse.
The traffic warden is doing his job. he is not a pig but doing his job for what he is paid to do do and he does not know if your honest or a schemer.
your blaming others when simply you should hold your hands up and say , yes i am a pill*** and i made a mistake.
get over it

steve_2012

leedsmodus wrote: »

Admit your at fault and pay up. Human ERROR. If i forget to pay my Gas Bill will I hold British Gas responsible? erm no.
You could appeal but unless you have shown the warden at the time of the fine a valid blue badge you have no recourse.
The traffic warden is doing his job. he is not a pig but doing his job for what he is paid to do do and he does not know if your honest or a schemer.
your blaming others when simply you should hold your hands up and say , yes i am a pill*** and i made a mistake.
get over it

you seem like a right bundle of fun.
i never said the warden wasnt doing his job, i called no one a pig, i didnt blame anyone else.
thankfully the person who dealt with the challenge was a far more understanding person than you appear to be.

BobQ

leedsmodus wrote: »

The council does not process your application. They all get sent to a central office in England and despatched from there. Yes you pay your council £10 but the badge and application is not dealt by them

The local authority receives the application and makes an assessment locally based on the evidence it has available. It usually outsources the medical assessments by occupational therapists (where these apply). Where a local authority approves the application (either because the applicant has an automatic entitlement or as a result of their assessment) the approval is forwarded to a central location to issue the badge. That is not the same as the applications being processed centrally as you state.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The successful issue of a BB is reported to a national database. All other processes are local.

The 'best practice' non statutory information [final] was released to LA's last July. All processing is done locally to agreed national guidelines. Stationery (*) the BB themselves and stationary are printed centrally and then bought by LA's for their own issue / use as part of their cost model.

(*) Data Protection Act, Sensitive [MH etc] Data, Access to Med Recs, Inter Department, and Inter Local Authority Data Sharing. Explicit & Implicit Consent etc.

NOTE : All LA's were required to be 'up to speed' by January this year using the new further / non-further criteria and anti-fraud badges, clearly some smaller LA's even now in October have yet to achieve those standards.

Respect the Blue Badge - its your lifeline to that other big bit of the world, the one outside your own home !