Perhaps a different Blue Badge on private land issue.

Owt4nowt

I had been reading forum topics relating to parking issues on this forum and Pepipoo for a few months, mainly out of interest and not because I had any private parking issues.

Inspired by what I had read on the forums I decided to challenge a large college. The college had decided to put up signs in a car park I use insisting that one of their parking permits must be displayed. It now appears they do not wholly own the car park and have recently removed all their signs.

Anyway attached to one of the emails I was copied in on during our correspondence there was a copy of an application form for a college parking permit. Even though I did not need to apply for a parking permit I decided to take a look at the application form. Links to which are hopefully below.

http://i1336.photobucket.com/albums/o642/Owt4nowt12/parking/permit-page-001.jpg

http://i1336.photobucket.com/albums/o642/Owt4nowt12/parking/permit-page-002.jpg


I had a quick read through the form and noticed that they are were insisting that in order to obtain a disabled parking permit the applicant must own and display a Blue Badge. After searching this forum and others I decided that this requirement was in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

Another email was then sent to the college suggesting that they may want to seek further guidance and perhaps re-think their requirements relating to the need for a Blue Badge.

Whilst waiting for a reply I decided to email the England helpline at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I attached a copy of the form and asked for their opinion regarding the need for a Blue Badge when applying for a disabled parking permit.

The day before they stopped running the helpline I received this response. This has been copied and pasted straight from their email.

‘Dear MM12
Thank you for contacting the Equality and Human Rights Commission regarding your issue
I note from your email you feel that section 29 of the Equality Act may be breached in respect requiring those you need disabled parking need to produce a blue badge in order to obtain a parking permit from the college.
The Equality Act 2010 requires employers, service providers, and education providers to make reasonable adjustments to remove any substantial disadvantage a disabled person placed.
When an individual is applying for a permit, the college needs a means of ensuring that the permit is allocated to the appropriate person.
If an individual is refused a permit on the grounds, they do not have a blue badge, in order to show that the college has refused to make a reasonable adjustment. You would first need to show that the individual concerned would be at a substantial disadvantage with the current parking arrangement. Then needs to ask the college for the reasons they will not make a reasonable adjustment for a person who does not have a blue badge as a person may still have a mobility issue even if they do not have a blue badge.
If you have, any further questions do not hesitate in contacting the Helpline quoting reference number xxxxx’

I did not fully understand their response, but there was no way of contacting them for further clarification so I gave up.

Eventually after a couple of chasing emails and phone calls to the college I received a phone call from their Equality & Diversity Manager. I got the impression that he had not seen the form before and he was not familiar with the relevant parts of the Equality Act. He promised to look into the issues raised and call me back in a few days time.

As promised he called and agreed that the form was incorrect and the wording would be changed. I then received an email confirming what had been discussed. Here is the relevant paragraph.

‘In respect of the Blue Badges you are correct in saying these are valid for on-street parking only and having reviewed the wording and requirements set out in our internal Application Form I agree that we need to change these so we do not disadvantage people with a disability or need who are not Blue Badge holders. I have redrafted the wording/requirements of our Application Form to meet this need and am just running my proposed changes past our solicitors to ensure changes are compliant with the letter and spirit of the Equality Act.’

I’m not sure I will be sent a copy of the revised form, I will just have to trust it is now acceptable.

So thanks to MSE & Pepipoo it appears I have been able to persuade a large college to re-write their parking permit application form and also remove signs they put up in a car park.

taffy056

That is a great result, and proves that what coupon mad and others including myself has been saying for a very long while now. Thanks for sharing this and for your determination on getting things done. Must say that fair do's to that person who admitted things were not right and is making a comitrnent on a change.

Coupon-mad

Well done, and thanks for posting that clear email, it makes a lot of sense and does back up exactly what we've been banging on about as far as the Equality Act and parking is concerned!

You are the second person who has reported such a success this week:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4260961

That poster had been disadvantaged as a new Uni student whilst he waited for a Blue Badge - we encouraged him to press for the parking arrangements to be extended to him as he was clearly someone who met the definition of disability (regardless of any Badge).

He got the Uni to change their policy even though he did get his Badge through!

:T