Blue Badge Parking in Europe

Don Madge

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The Blue Badge is recognised in all European countries. When you display it on the dashboard, it allows you to make use of the same parking concessions that the country you are in allows its own citizens with disability.
The concessions differ from country to country, however. So it is important to know where, when and for how long you can park. And as important, when and where you can’t park. The downloadable leaflet explains the concessions for each individual country

http://www.aatrust.com/files/advice/blue_badge_abroad.pdf



Safe travelling

Don
 
It also differs from county to county here in UK some town councils ignore the scheme altogether and there is no free disabled parking.
 
Yes , we can vouch for that!
DH is in receipt of mobility allowance and is registered disabled, our van is rated 'nil' for road tax. When we park up I have to double check the small print on the information board , you can't always assume a blue badge holder is free!
 
Yes it's a big problem with the disabled parking, we have been caught out once or twice by not reading the small print. Fortunately the traffic wardens have been helpful in the past, but since they privatised our local wardens one has to be very careful.

We have never had any problems in the EU but designated blue parking bays in some countries are few and far between.

Safe travelling

Don
 
Just a point on this topic - why should blue badge holders park free at all? The badge is to allow holders to park in spaces that are more convenient, wider, or require less walking than others. That's all. There's nothing in the blue badge scheme that says that all holders are poor and therefore need free parking, and I can't see any justification for badge holders to have a free ride. I think it's unjust when a well-dressed couple in a Merc can park free in a car park, while the shabby bloke in the old Escort next door is searching for the £2.50 he needs. I'd far rather see badge holders charged like everyone else, and the use of the bays far more actively policed, so that non-badge holders are more actively prevented from parking in the disabled bays.

I think the expectation of free disabled parking comes from the days when the disabled usually were genuinely poor because they couldn't work - industrial injuries, war veterans and the like. In those days it was a convenient way we could help these people out. But that hasn't been true for a long time.
 
Here Here

I couldn't agree more Black Dog. As a disabled person myself I have and would not have aproblem in paying. I very rarly use car parks but park free at side of road where others can but with a time limit I am just allowed longer. Chester is one place that springs to mind disabled have the first few hours free then have to pay and yes when I stayed in rhoods overnie I paid me pound like everone else. The irony of it was that the next day we went round by the cathedral and miss read the signage and copped a £30 fine :mad:
 
Arguement.....

No arguement at all here! I am a blue badge holder and would have no issues with paying to park.
 
Disagree

The majority of truly disabled people don't drive Mercs but normally leased vehicles from Mobility. Also for many, benefits are often the only income and every little helps.
 
jmac said:
The majority of truly disabled people don't drive Mercs but normally leased vehicles from Mobility. Also for many, benefits are often the only income and every little helps.
Click to expand...

Agreed - but I have seen this, near to here and very recently. A retired couple who, from their dress, were obviously very well-off pulled smoothly into a disabled space, left the car and walked off - with no noticeable difficulty either. In the next space was a young bloke with a wife and a couple of kids, X-reg Ford Escort, all a bit scruffy, rummaging in all his pockets to get enough change for the P&D meter. It struck me as very unjust.

Mrs Dog has a blue badge and a Motability car, so I know what the situation is there. But I always feel a bit embarrassed if we get a "free" parking space. We are by no means wealthy, but we can manage the odd quid for a car park. What really bugs me is when she has to park further away (motorway services seem the worst) because some young and fit sales rep can't be arsed to walk 50 yards and takes the last disabled space.

Useful quotation to use here, if you get the chance:

"I see you've taken my parking space. Would you like my disability to go with it?"
 
"I see you've taken my parking space. Would you like my disability to go with it?"[/quote]

Now thats a quote that I will remember and use :D
 
And me. My friend has MS and has a lot of problems like this. I will tell her what to say next time it happens to her.
 
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