New Blue Badge Laws

About the Blue Badge

The Blue Badge (previously called the Orange Badge) is the common name for the 'Parking card for Disabled People'.  It offers particular parking concessions to those who fall within certain categories of physical and sensory disability. It operates across the European Union and is regulated in this country by the Department for Transport (DfT), which stipulates the qualifying categories. There are currently seven qualifying categories.

The holder of a Blue Badge is able to park on-street (subject to certain conditions) without charge in areas where others would have to pay a parking fee or could incur a parking fine. The Blue Badge can be used in any vehicle in which the holder is being conveyed; the holder does not have to be the driver. For more information about the Blue Badge scheme, please visit the DfT website.

The legislation which specifies the qualifying categories is the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 and the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2007. This legislation came into force on 15th October 2007.

EU Law could send car prices rocketing

New European legislation coming into force will severely threaten the wheelchair accessible vehicle industry, place hundreds of jobs in jeopardy, and could send prices of specialist cars for disabled people in the UK rocketing, warns Linda Ling, Chair of the Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Converters’ Association (WAVCA).

Under the proposed new Framework Directive 70/156/EEC to be introduced in early 2007, manufacturers of wheelchair accessible vehicles will be forced to choose between either taking on huge extra costs to meet new EU small volume requirements or reduce sales to only tiny numbers of each model in the UK, and increase prices.

Annual volumes for the entire UK industry currently stand at approximately 8,000 cars, made up of several different models. The current UK national small series scheme (Low Volume Type Approval) allows converters to build up to 500 of any model type. The new legislation is set to limit this to a pitifully low 75, dramatically reducing capacity, making production unviable, which could ultimately force many companies out of business.

The result would be that the availability of suitable cars for disabled customers will become extremely limited and inevitably, prices will soar.

Linda Ling, Chair of WAVCA says, “The people that use these types of vehicles are the most severely disabled with a lack of mobility that make it impossible for them to get out of their wheelchairs. They absolutely rely on specially adapted transport to get out of the house, go shopping, attend hospital appointments, and visit friends and family – all the vital elements of a happy life. Without this essential transport, they will be literally trapped indoors.”