New Blue Disabled Driver's Badge.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....-to-combat-fraud.html

How will these new badges be of any help to the genuine disabled driver?

The present badge is not hand written on a piece of card as reported, it is a printed document, with a photograph of it's holder on it and enclosed in plastic.

What the authorities should be clamping down on is the ease some are able to acquire these badges, the use by others who are not the holder of the badges, and those that illegally park in disabled drivers spaces, etc,

What also amusers me however is the fact that some blue badge holders, park in the supermarket disabled spaces, which are in close proximity to the entrance of the supermarket and then are able to walk around the supermarket for close on a hour doing their shopping.

If they are fit enough to do that then surely they shouldn't hold a disabled blue badge.

[albaqwerty]

A lady on the beeb news this morning, who is disabled, said she'd had her car broken into 3 times. On the first 2 occasions they made off with her blue badge. She also said that when she gets out of her car, it's not obvious that she is disabled. Not all disabilities are physically obvious.

Happy 2012 when it arrives :)

[daffy654]

Blue badges are not easy to obtain in my area. You have to be in receipt of the higher rate of DLA to qualify to apply, they can still turn you down though If you don't have back-up from a consultant.

[sara3]

maybe it takes them an hour instead of 20 minutes, because they're disabled?

and not all blue badge holders have obvious physical disabilities.

[joeluke]

....and why do blue badge holders always insist they should be able to park for free in pay-and-display car parks?

A blue badge denotes disability not poverty

[Postdog]

How dare you judge by just looking at the people and saying they are not disabled!!!!

I have a brain tumour. I am not registered disabled, nor do I have a blue badge. It affects me primarily by making my legs weak. That said it is easier to walk and keep moving because if I stop I lose balance and fall over. It doesn't hurt as such but walking requires a lot of physical effort and is very fatiguing - even more so if you are carrying shopping.

I am not officially allowed to park in such places, but if I could, the car being nearer would make life a lot easier.

Don't you ever assume because a person looks OK they are!!!

[joko]

not all disabilities mean the person cannot walk.

it means they have some difficulty...could be breathing, with carrying stuff, their back, their heart, their head etc - and if their issue is like mine they have good and bad days.

for instance, i could technically run for a bus...but i would regret it and suffer for about a week because of it.

how do you know they are just waltzing round the shop...? they may be in agony - but they need to buy food etc...they may have no alternative...

i myself have walked round supermarkets in pain - because the alternative is - i dont eat...

[cazzz1975]

I am sure most if not all disabled people would trade their blue badge in happily for full health.

[sara3]

joeluke, blue badge holders do not "insist" they park for free. it's just offered to them. I don't know why, but they certainly don't insist!

[VHG]

It is very hard to monitor the use of these blue badges.

For a start the picture of the person to whom the badge is issued is actually placed face down (ie hidden) when the badge is placed on the dashboard, so nobody can actually tell if the person who "owns" the badge is even in the car.

Also, often the person who has a blue badge does not themselves own a car (it may be for an elderly relative who cant drive). My wife had a blue badge for her elderly mother who did not have a car and it was only used when my wife took her mother out (maybe only once or twice a week).

But because my wife had the blue badge in her car at all times it could easily be a temptation to "use" it when you could not find a "normal" parking space (though she never did ) but I bet many do.

There was a case in our local paper a few months ago where the council clamped down on illegal use of these badges. They checked one car park near a large bank, and found at least two of the people who worked in the bank had been parking for over a year for free using these blue badges, when in fact the badges were not for them but for an elderly relative.

And of course many people avoid the congestion charge in London by displaying a blue badge.

The whole thing is a minefield and easy to abuse.

[daffy654]

When I had my badge and had to go to the hospital for appointments my oh should have been able to park for free, we always paid though.

[erin-x]

It doesn't matter how long they take in the shop. As Sara has said, it may take the person longer because of their disability. My mum for example will go for her shopping every Friday and will use her blue badge to park in a disabled space. She takes about an hour to do the shopping and will pay for it the rest of the day. She is now having a lie down like she does every week because she gets so exhausted.

If someone has a blue badge it is obviously for a reason. It is not up to us to speculate whether they are entitled to it or not judging from what you have seen for 30 seconds in a supermarket carpark!

[cazzz1975]

I dont understand the vitriol for disabled drivers, the need to go and watch them getting out of cars and making haphazard judgements.

[ubasses]

What the article doesn't say is that badge holders now have to go in for an assessment before they can be issued or renewed. I hope that they are going to be on specially watermarked paper to prevent people being able to forge them and that councils keep them very secure. I have a badge for my Mother, otherwise I would not be able to take he,r out which expires on 1 February so I will soon be finding out how well the new system works.

[Everhelpful]

Not one of your better Posts,AOG,why not do a Post about about MP's swanning around in Chauffeur Driven,Gas Guzzling Luxury Cars,no doubt Parking for free anywhere they go, instead of picking on the vulnerable in Society?

[rov1100]

The whole system needs to be sorted out and the government are now aware of the scams operating under the name of disabled drivers. For instance under their name luxury cars were bought for someone else If these also use the blue badge scheme the whole scheme is discredited.

http://www.dailymail....bled-UK-taxpayer.html

[anotheoldgit]

I just can't believe the attitude of some of you, stating such things as;

"How dare you"

or

" Not one of your better Posts,AOG,why not do a Post about about MP's swanning around in Chauffeur Driven,Gas Guzzling Luxury Cars"

or

"I dont understand the vitriol for disabled drivers, the need to go and watch them getting out of cars and making haphazard judgements."

and

"not all blue badge holders have obvious physical disabilities".

First let me in my defence, put you in the picture;

I am not criticising disabled drivers, far from it, I am one myself, and to get my badge I had to apply through my GP.

As regards 'obvious physical disabilities' I had to prove that I had extreme walking difficulties, hence my reference to blue badge holders who deem it necessary to park the few yards from the supermarkets entrance, but are still able (although perhaps in a certain amount of discomfort) to walk around the supermarket not carrying their purchases, as some have stated, since trolleys are provided.

If they are able to carry out those tasks then they could walk the few yards from an ordinary parking bay, and leave the few special bays for those with more sever walking difficulties also wheel chair users.

Incidentally I have to choose supermarkets that have their own electric shopping carts or take along my own collapsible one in the boot of my car.

[cazzz1975]

not all disabilities are assessed in the same manner so the walking test may not be applicable in some cases, I suppose it depends on your disability claim to what assessment to receive.

[anotheoldgit]

rov1100

Totally agree rov, but it is not all disabled drivers that enjoy this perk, only those on 'Disability Allowance'.

Just the same as if one can tick the boxes to this question, "Are you on such and such allowance"?

Answer the right ones then Aladdin's cave is open to you.

[bednobs]

not a very helpful comment but i have learned to stay out of the debates on here about disabled badge holders in supermarkets, and the inevitable waffle that follows about child/parent parking spaces!

[anotheoldgit]

/// not all disabilities are assessed in the same manner so the walking test may not be applicable in some cases ///

I would have thought that the need for a blue badge was primarily for those persons who cannot walk or stand, or at least those who can only perform these tasks for a very short distance or length of time?

Please tell me if I am wrong.