Blue badge error will cost me money

neilc75

I've had a blue badge now for approx 5 years , the second issue expires on 1/11/25 , I applied for a new one 7 weeks ago ( if your not familiar it's takes ages ) they've had the application for all this time , and took the £10! , I had a letter on Friday saying my application has been refused due to the fact that I hadn't included a drs letter ( sole reason ) , I had in fact included a letter so I called them up , the operator was really helpful and said that he could see the Drs letter attached and it was obviously a mistake and that it will be reviewed. The review can take up to 14 days and then if successful I will need to wait for the issue of the badge . The question I have is this , as it wasn't my error and I'm going to be without a pass for a few weeks would it be unreasonable for me to expect the cost of any parking within that time to be refunded , had anyone had experience of this in the past ? , thanks .

MattMattMattUK

neilc75 said:

I've had a blue badge now for approx 5 years , the second issue expires on 1/11/25 , I applied for a new one 7 weeks ago ( if your not familiar it's takes ages ) they've had the application for all this time , and took the £10! , I had a letter on Friday saying my application has been refused due to the fact that I hadn't included a drs letter ( sole reason ) , I had in fact included a letter so I called them up , the operator was really helpful and said that he could see the Drs letter attached and it was obviously a mistake and that it will be reviewed. The review can take up to 14 days and then if successful I will need to wait for the issue of the badge . The question I have is this , as it wasn't my error and I'm going to be without a pass for a few weeks would it be unreasonable for me to expect the cost of any parking within that time to be refunded , had anyone had experience of this in the past ? , thanks .

Unfortunately my understanding is that there is no legal basis for that to happen and I would be very doubtful that it will happen voluntarily. 

born_again

neilc75 said:

I've had a blue badge now for approx 5 years , the second issue expires on 1/11/25 , I applied for a new one 7 weeks ago ( if your not familiar it's takes ages ) they've had the application for all this time , and took the £10! , I had a letter on Friday saying my application has been refused due to the fact that I hadn't included a drs letter ( sole reason ) , I had in fact included a letter so I called them up , the operator was really helpful and said that he could see the Drs letter attached and it was obviously a mistake and that it will be reviewed. The review can take up to 14 days and then if successful I will need to wait for the issue of the badge . The question I have is this , as it wasn't my error and I'm going to be without a pass for a few weeks would it be unreasonable for me to expect the cost of any parking within that time to be refunded , had anyone had experience of this in the past ? , thanks .

Even many car parks charge for blue badge users.
I would say given council finances, they will say no.

elsien

As above, having a blue badge doesn’t  automatically empty from parking charges In many car parks. 

TELLIT01

Until the new badge arrives you will have no entitlement to the rules applying to Blue Badges.  There will be no compensation from the issuing authority.  I'm afraid you will just have to bite the bullet and pay until it comes through.

Brie

Our council was taking several months to do renewals so there was a message from them to say that if you displayed your old badge with a copy of your renewal application that would extend your end date for a set period - I think it was only 2 months but a bit of a help.  It would only be applied for council parking and certainly not outside the council region at all. 

Realistically if you did park where a blue badge was required on private property (i.e a supermarket) just telling them their customer service desk should be sufficient to avoid any issues.   I'm not sure I'd try it at a large mall where it would be hard to find someone to log this with.

Spoonie_Turtle

Unfortunately the application page does say they can take up to 12 weeks and to apply in plenty of time - I understand your frustration at their error holding your application up, but it's well under 12 weeks so far so even if any council hypothetically were minded to potentially give any discretionary recompense, it likely wouldn't even be considered unless your application had taken longer than that.