Blue badge holder says city car parks 'confusing'

A disability access campaigner says a city's policy on which blue badge holders can get free parking is "confusing".

Liz Owen, a motorised wheelchair user and campaigner for improving accessibility, visited Peterborough's Bishops Road Car Park where the parking information sign advised that blue badge holders needed to pay the standard charges "unless their vehicle is especially adapted".

Owen, who lives in St Neots, has queried how parking wardens would know if a vehicle was adapted and what the city council's definition of "adapted" was.

A council spokesperson said the local authority was "planning a review of the charging policy".

Owen has a car, which she transports her motorised wheelchair in.

"The policy appears to leave parking officers to decide whether a disabled person's vehicle is sufficiently adapted to qualify for free parking," she said.

"Not all disabilities are visible, and not all adaptations are obvious."

She said she contacted the council to ask how the policy came about.

"I was told the sign has apparently been in place for around 13 years. Surprisingly, the council has said it cannot find records of the original policy or an equality impact assessment relating to it," she said.

Owen said she was also told by the council that blue badge holders should pre-register their badges with parking services to avoid a fine.

"That's hardly practical for someone just visiting for the day," she said.

However, she added that the most concerning thing was the council had not provided her with an explanation of what counted as an especially adapted vehicle.

"How can disabled visitors know what they're supposed to comply with?"

She said she was also told that if a vehicle did not appear to qualify, the blue badge holder could receive a penalty fine and would then have to appeal.

Blue badge holders in England are entitled to free on-street parking.

They can also park on single or double yellow lines for up to three hours.

Drivers still have to abide by rules on not causing an obstruction, such as outside a school, at a bus stop or on the pavement.

A blue badge does not automatically allow free parking in off-street car parks, including those run by councils. However some do choose to offer blue badge holders a free period.

In a statement, a council spokesperson said: "Our current blue badge charging policy was implemented in 2013 and an exception was applied for people who were wheelchair users.

"This was because at the time our payment machines were not necessarily all wheelchair-accessible and were the only way for people to pay for parking.

"In light of changes to our payment methods since this time, we are currently planning a review of the charging policy.

"This would include a fresh equalities impact assessment, with a view to creating a simplified and easy to understand charging policy."

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