New Blue Badge anti-fraud measures

Former_MSE_Andrea

What's it about?

The Blue Badge Scheme for certain groups of Disabled drivers means parking a car is both free and easier to do as they're given the right to park in areas that are normally restricted.

Yet in the past the scheme's been open to fraud and misuse. Now it's trying to tackle that though by changing the badge's design. It now includes a hologram to make it harder to copy and a serial number telling you whether the badge holder is male or female (although sadly that won't have made theft any harder).

What other changes have been made?

The scheme's also been expanded to include children under two with medical conditions who need to stay near to a vehicle and people with disabilities affecting their upper bodies who don't drive adapted cars meaning they shouldn't have to struggle with parking meters or automatic car park barriers.

anntics

More and more places are now charging disabled drivers to park, just like anyone else, so the advantages to having a badge might become less attractive over time anyway.

Kazzea

It would probably help if the authorities actually gave people a ticket for parking in disabled spaces without a badge as they rarely do - THIS would be a great deterent to start with. Why bother stopping people forging them when noone seems to care if you have them or not?

My dad has a disabled badge and is usually the only one in the disabled parking areas with a badge at all !!!

Morglin

Good, I'm glad they are tightening up the rules, and with the DDA becoming more effective, it won't be long before all parking areas (including supermarkets) have to have enforceable blue badge bays to stop non badge holders using disabled bays.:j

In the council car parks down here, a Blue Badge is not enough for free parking - we also have to have a pink card, issued to residents only, which shows the car registration, before we can park without paying.

Lin

roddydogs

Kazzea wrote: »

It would probably help if the authorities actually gave people a ticket for parking in disabled spaces without a badge as they rarely do - THIS would be a great deterent to start with. Why bother stopping people forging them when noone seems to care if you have them or not?

My dad has a disabled badge and is usually the only one in the disabled parking areas with a badge at all !!!

you must be referring to Supermarkets- i can assure you that on public road, red Routes especially, these are rigeriously enforced.:o Wardens/parking attendents have new powers to challenge Blue Badge users-the trouble is they have to actually see the person Parking/leaving in orders to challenge them. anothe weakness is that the persons picture does not have to be shown, its on the back!

Penny-Pincher!!

I am glad also that they are tightening up on the rules and regulations!

Its such a pain when there are NEVER any disabled spaces and if you dont park in the disabled spaces you have to pay. I really dont see the advantage in having a BB sometimes and I am a wheelchair user!

PP
xx

autismmum

both my sons have autism and although they can walk and look like a normal person they often stop and cant cope with a smell or sound or something and so i have to park real close to where i want to be and sometmes leave one in the car (my 16 yr old) as no one can Tell he'd open the door in a second! so parking within sight is soooo important, unfortunetly there are too few spaces and i'm sorry to say many elderly people think i'm pulling a fast one perhaps we could have a green badge for childern? just an idea

keefyboy_2

I am a Blue Badge Holder and a couple of things really bug me, Some elderly people think as soon as they retire it is their god given right to park in Disabled bays, even when they don't have a badge and when challenged they get very abusive.
Secondly there are the people who HAD a Blue Badge in the past or their badge has expired, they display their old badge making sure that the expiry date is covered by the clock, and also just displaying the clock and no badge at all.
What these people don't realise is that if they do not display the badge and clock correctly they can get a ticket from the parking attendant. Let's also include the photo (hologram) on the FRONT of the badge so it can be seen if people have the disabled person in the car. Some people are getting confused as to which side of the badge to display.

In the US if you park in a disabled bay and don't have a disabled ticket then your vehicle gets towed away, the police even go round checking the disabled bays in hotel car parks (in agreement with the hotel owners) to show that the rules are being obeyed.

TOBRUK

roddydogs wrote: »

Wardens/parking attendents have new powers to challenge Blue Badge users-the trouble is they have to actually see the person Parking/leaving in orders to challenge them. anothe weakness is that the persons picture does not have to be shown, its on the back!

These aren't new powers - I was a traffic warden back in 1987 (for all my sins) and I used to challenge people back then when they were orange badges!

Not sure about showing the picture ... perhaps risky in that it could lead to identity theft with too much information on the badge.

keefyboy: In the US if you park in a disabled bay and don't have a disabled ticket then your vehicle gets towed away, the police even go round checking the disabled bays in hotel car parks (in agreement with the hotel owners) to show that the rules are being obeyed.

Like this idea

My renewal for blue badge is up now so when I get my new one it will be interesting to see the changes that have been made :rolleyes:

twittersp

My husband is a blue badge holder. He cannot walk very far and uses the disabled bays where possible as he need to open the car door wide to get in and out. He has often been unable to get back into the car as people will park so close to the door. Also he is often verbally abused by non BB holders who want the space he is in. Wish they would enforce the rules more strictly with these people. Further to this he has been informed that our local authority is going to charge all car park users as soon as they can lower the meters for easier access by all. :rolleyes:

golddustmedia

My mother in law uses a wheelchair and we often find people abusing the disabled bays.

A couple of weeks ago a family pulled into the space next to us while we were unloading the wheelchair. The mum obviously wasn't happy and said something to her husband who blurted out "well she's disabled, look at her arm", referring to his daughter.

His excuse for using a disabled bay? His teenage daughter had her arm in a sling, obviously from some simple mishap or fall.

Once they went into the restaurant they were parked outside we took the liberty of applying fluorescent "dont abuse disabled parking bays" stickers on his windscreen