Two cheers for blue badge plans

Long-awaited plans to improve the blue badge parking scheme are good news. But the government could go even further, says Ian Macrae

So it looks like two cheers at best from Disability Now and our partners in the Baywatch campaign for new minister Paul Clark and his recently-announced initiative aimed at reducing badge and bay abuse. The loudest hooray goes up for the plan to fund a national database to enable local authorities to share information on legitimate badge-holders. Another slightly less enthusiastic one is raised for powers being given to parking enforcement officers to confiscate badges which are being misused.

Jimi Adeleye, secretary of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee, says most cases of abuse take place in off-street areas. He fears this will continue unless the scheme is extended to off-street bays.

The British Polio Fellowship (BPF) launched the Baywatch campaign in 2001 because of the abuse of bays outside super­markets. Graham Ball, BPF’s chief executive, agrees that abuse in privately-owned car parks is still rife.

“I stay in a hotel regularly and the number of disabled builders in white vans is amazing! I’ve either got to congratulate the building industry for its recruitment procedures of disabled people or think the worst!”

The government is discussing with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) how to encourage the retail sector to tackle bay abuse outside shops. But it would have been better if they had directly followed the excellent lead taken by Asda by empowering and requiring retailers to impose fines where abuse is evident.

Helen Smith, director of policy and campaigns at the disabled motorists’ charity Mobilise (another Baywatch member), is sceptical that the BRC discussions will produce results.

“We’re disappointed that nothing more is being done there. I fear abuse in off-street carparks will still be rife.” She suspects that much of the abuse happens where disabled people lend their badges to families and friends.

She also thinks Baywatch needs to monitor how much councils charge blue badge applicants, as the government is allowing each local authority to set its own rates. Adeleye says he would have preferred a central body to control assessment and enforcement.

But like Ball and Smith, he is optimistic that the reformed system will lead to a reduction in overall blue badge fraud.

It was disappointing too that in media interviews surrounding the new initiative, Clark positioned himself alongside those who perpetuate the view that disabled badge-holders are trousering large amounts of cash (up to £3,000 a pop) by selling badges in pubs or on the internet. There is no evidence that this is anything more than an urban myth which focuses attention away from the real problems.