Norwich blue badge victory

In the face of arguments that charging for Blue Badge parking represented equality, Helen Dolphin took the view that in fact it’s discrimination

In 2009 Norwich City Council announced that they were revising their policy on parking charges and that Blue Badge holders, who had previously been entitled to free parking in council car parks, would now be charged the full amount.

The council justified their position by saying that charging everyone the same amount was “equal” treatment of both disabled and non-disabled people.

Now, I certainly agree that disabled people should be treated equally! And I don’t believe that just because you are disabled you can’t afford to pay for your parking.

But I don’t believe that charging disabled and non-disabled people the same is “equal”. In fact, I would argue that to charge Blue Badge holders the same to park as non-disabled people is in fact discriminatory. This is because the majority of disabled people take longer to get around the shops, and therefore end up paying more to park.

As soon as Norwich City Council announced their policy change my colleagues and I at Mobilise opposed the council’s decision, and in various meetings with council representatives over the last 18 months we have done our best to persuade them that this decision was wrong. Sadly, these face-to-face meetings with council members did nothing to convince them that it was unfair to charge disabled people the full price for parking. It wasn’t until me and four other disabled people, with support from Wake Smith & Tofields solicitors, decided to take action under the Disability Discrimination Act and the new Equality Act 2010 and bring a legal case against them that the council finally agreed to change their policy.

Personally I feel that it should never have got to the stage of involving solicitors. If the council had just taken a more common-sense approach and listened to us when we first approached them about the issue, a lot of time and money could have been saved all round. I am therefore delighted to report that after lengthy consideration the council is at last willing to make a concession for Blue Badge holders parking in council run car parks. Instead of charging Blue Badge holders the same rate as non-disabled people they now allow people who hold a Blue Badge to get an hour’s free parking for every hour they buy.

Norwich is now the second council to have faced legal action concerning discriminatory parking charges. Last year Lincoln Council were also forced to change their policy after they too were brought to task. I understand that councils are trying to save money wherever possible, but as these two councils have discovered, bringing in discriminatory charges is not the way to do it.

Martin Harvey, Partner at Wake Smith & Tofields said: “We are delighted with the outcome here in Norwich to assist Blue Badge holders. The firm’s previous work in Lincoln with (local resident) Matt Smith has highlighted an injustice many Blue Badge holders are experiencing across the county, and the case here in Norwich is unfortunately now another case to add to that list.  We would urge anyone experiencing similar difficulties to come forward and contact their solicitor.”

For the last year many disabled people in Norwich have either been put off coming into their city to shop or have paid more to park than they should have. Of course, there are still many improvements that need to be made in Norwich and other towns across the UK – better provision of accessible parking spaces and public transport would be nice! – but I hope that this victory is a small step in the right direction.