Dear Mr Robertson
I am writing to you with my views on your consultation paper for the disability blue badge
scheme.
Q1] i do agree with the general aims of the bill as i believe there is more abuse of this scheme
than people believe,but enforcement can only work in my opinion along with better detection
rates and education of the general public with regards to the rules of the blue badge scheme
and they see the detection,enforcement and punishment actually being implemented.
Q2] confiscation or removal of any persons badge is a serious step to take,but i do believe
this step is a necessary one and more people such as traffic wardens and parking attendants
should be given this power but i would worry about their safety in trying to enforcing the
confiscation in some situations as most people would be most likely to respect the authority
of the police in such situations and you also have the problem of getting the police to respond
in a reasonable amount of time as these people would not have the power to prevent them
from leaving.
Q3]i do agree that local authorities should appoint more officials to examine and confiscate
illegal or badges being misused,as i believe this is one reason why there is so much abuse of
the blue badge as the public are fully aware that there is very little chance of them being
detected, as a former taxi driver i know many councils now have taxi enforcement
departments in place and have the powers to remove licence plates at the roadside or report
the person in question to the local authority and they also visit the home of people who fail to
return any outdated plates or are reported by the public suspected of commiting a offence,
perhaps the enforcement of the blue badge scheme could be incorporated in their duties, but
should the council not have a taxi department they do have other departments which have
enforcement powers.
Q4]i believe this is a necessary step for councils to take as some badges are genuinely lost but
there are others which are stolen,but i also believe that it should be the councils responsibility
to inform all badge holders when it expires and ask for its return and failure to do so they will
be commiting a offence if this was introduced in the new bill.
Q5]once again i believe this should be implemented as any one who is displaying a out of
date,stolen or fraudulent badge should in my opinion be breaking the law,they are not only
being disrespectful to the people who genuinely need this badge but are a drain on the
resources of the organisations who implement and run this scheme and heavier financial
penalties could be should be introduced as a deterrent.
Q6]i would support the proposal for the scottish government to take over the regulation and
design of a new blue badge as i firmly believe that the design of the badge itself is one of the
biggest reasons for abuse of this scheme and i will comment further on this in Q11comments.
Q7]i would agree that in any process of issueing badges, licences and any other democratic
decision it is the right of any person to appeal any decision which they feel is wrong.
Q8] I feel that changes need to be made in the the method of application for a badge as well
as the implementation of a appeals process; a]when the patient applies to the doctor for the
blue badge scheme the application should go to a occupational therapist within the nhs for
assesment.
b]the application must not go to someone in a office who has not had any contact with the applicant
as they do not have the skills or knowledge to assess that person.
c]if the assessments are done by professional therapists within the nhs this may help reduce the
number of badges issued as some of the public would be reluctant to apply knowing they would be
properly assessed and not almost guaranted one by a unknown person in a office.
b]as in Q7 it is only right that the person has the right to appeal if they feel the decision was not
correct as some conditions can change quiet quickly.
Q9] i do not think that there any negative impacts in the present or proposed bill, but if the proposed
bill does go through it has to have a positive effect for most badge holders.
Q10] unfortunately in these difficult financial times any proposed change to the bill could be a burden
to the local authorities but although it may be unpopular i think it may be time to consider introducing
some fees in into the system such as;
a] your first succesful application would be free
b] any future renewals their would be a fee
c] the reverse of a & b could apply
d] a fee for both could apply although it might be unpopular
e] a fee for appeals but would be refunded if successful
e] yearly renewals would help cut down on the abuse of the scheme as
closer renewal dates would deter some people from people using their
illegal badges for longer and they would be detected quicker and if a fee
was introduced the crime of fraud may be introduced.
11]-COMMENTS
i am delighted that mr robertson is taking this opportunity to improve the blue
badge scheme as in my opinion the abuse of this scheme is far greater than we
think and wether people abuse this scheme through laziness,knowledge of the
rules of disability parking or even personal financial gain it all leads to the fact
it is disrespectful to others who are not so fortunate to be in the best of health.
to reduce the abuse of this scheme i believe it has to become antisocial behaviour
just as speeding,drink driving and other motoring offences have become although
the consequences of death and injury are much serious than someone abusing the
blue badge scheme,but i do believe the abuse can be reduced with as i have said
previously with tighter testing on applications,although it might be unpopular the
the introduction of some fees,better education of the rules of the blue badge scheme
to the public and better detection and enforcement the public would become better
informed and hopefully be more reluctant to abuse the scheme,and the people using
the scheme would be aware that their badge could be confiscated immediatly and
and a heavy financial penalty imposed
there are two things in particular which i believe have to be improved drastically
and one is the badge design itself,in my opinion it is far to easy for it to be passed
around from one person to another and criminals to duplicate and therefore become
less detectable,more qualified people than myself will be able judge the suggestions
i am making would be workable for detection or enforcement purposes by traffic
wardens,parking attendants police or other authorised personnel.
1] i see absolutely no reason why the badge holders photograph should not be on
the front of the badge as many people today have to carry photographic id for
various reasons even your driving licence and this would be a immediate on the
spot identification for people enforcing the scheme
2] if the badge holder has a car once again i would like to see the car registration
on the front of the badge making it again difficult to pass around and easy to
detect.
3] i would also like to see a space on the card which could be stamped with either
:passenger only: for people who apply for a badge who do not hold a drivers
licence and this could have a coloured border round the edge of the badge to
differenaite it from the normal badge,this space could also contain the words
:driver/passenger: therefore allowing the driver to be a passenger in another
car should the need arise and this would remain the standard badge.
I also believe that most abuse of the scheme takes place not in car parks who
have attendants but in places where people go for social and leisure purposes
such as supermarkets, retail parks and shopping malls and although these places
employ private parking companys almost everyone i have spoken to have never
even seen their attendants let alone seen a car with a parking ticket on it in the
disabled bays i would like to suggest;
1] i am not sure if this suggestion would be legally enforceable but i would like to
local authorities take charge of the parking in these places or in law their parking
departments would be allowed to tender for this work,as i have said the only
reason the abuse in these places is so bad is that the public have no fear of being
caught but if they knew that there was more frequent patrols by local authority
wardens many would be more unwilling to abuse the bays.
i have also said previously that i believe that education can play a big part in
changing attitudes and i would like to see the government legislating through
your bill for all places who install disabled parking bays that they must install
at all parking bays a sign at windscreen height or as near as possible saying
such things as;
you have now parked in a disabled bay
if you are parked illegally you will be fined £££
you could have your badge confiscated if you are parked illegally
these signs could also have the rules regarding parking in disabled bays as their
is very little rules about parking in them and this would also help educate the
public as these ridiculous signs that these places install ten feet up a pole with
nothing but vague threats about being fined no one reads or pays any attention
to.
i know you have already consulted with many disabled and support groups for
their opinions on this matter but i would challenge you to send out two officials to
any busy supermarket etc of their choice to monitor the parking bays over the
period of a whole day to see how bad the situation is,and they will see numerous
vehicles pull in such as all shape and size of commmercial vehicles, taxis, all manner
of private vehicles not displaying a badge,many vehicles using the bays with either
the driver or passengers sitting in them so that someone else does not have to walk
to far to the store,and although it may be wrong to judge people by look only it is
amazing the amount of single people who park up and you suspect them of using a
perfectly legal badge belonging to someone else.and one of the worst offences is
when a disabled person sits in their car with their badge on show and lets a able
bodied person go and attend to what they are doing[in my opinion a disabled and
able bodied person are both commiting a offence and should be treated as such]
this could be included in the rules for blue badge holders.the only reason i have
suggested this as i have become a bit of a expert at being forced to sit and watch
from a normal bay after touring the car park a few times without success as the
nature of my condition[osteo arthritis in the knees] i need the full width of a disabled
bay to open my car doors fully to enter and exit my car comfortably.it would not be the
first time i had to park in a bay that i thought would be safe and no one would park
beside me only to find out that I was wrong and i have had to ask a stranger to
bring my car out of the bay.
If your bill is successful i would also like to see the government run a advertising
campaign in all forms of the media like lots of other successful motoring campaigns
but the difference is it should be the easiest to detect and enforce as the vehicle
is stationery when commiting a offence.
good luck and with regards