The blue badge scheme is in a “terrible mess” and failing Britain’s disabled people, motorists and transport experts have said.
Motability users and other disabled drivers face a “postcode lottery” when it comes to the accessible parking the badges are supposed to provide.
It has left some disabled people stuck at home more often, reluctant to face bewildering parking rules and the often fierce competition for spaces.
Standards vary wildly from council to council in almost every aspect of the scheme, The i Paper has discovered.
Parking rules and the number of disabled bays differ depending on the local authority, with some cash-strapped councils cutting back on access.
And many councils still have a “confusing” application process, with some people with non-visible disabilities like autism struggling to qualify.
The failure of some councils to crack down on blue badge fraud is creating suspicion and “terrifying” hostility towards those using them legitimately.
The i Paper took a closer look at the scale of the problems with the 50-year-old scheme, which was introduced to boost travel freedoms.
‘Lack of basic access’ in central London
Disabled drivers are angry about the “illogical” rules that make it harder for them to use their blue badges in four central London areas: Camden, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and the City of London.
Traffic congestion in the capital means the four councils have special exemption from blue badge rules. They have created their own schemes which favour disabled residents over disabled non-residents.
Different councils have different rules when it comes to disabled parking (Photo: Getty)For instance, Camden Council has its own “green badge” for local disabled drivers. Unlike much of the rest of the country, blue badge users are not allowed to park on yellow lines or in on-street resident bays in the green badge zone.
In the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) – which has a “purple badge” scheme for residents – blue badge holders are limited to four hours free parking in designated bays during controlled hours.
Gregory Patton, a 63-year-old disabled motorist who lives in Fulham, said he found it far too difficult to use his blue badge in the four central London boroughs.
Gregory Patton no longer drives into central London because of parking problemsPatton – a wheelchair user who has a dropped foot and sclerosis of the spine – now drives less frequently. He takes public transport and taxis for medical appointments in the centre of the city, which costs him more time and money.
“I don’t drive into central London anymore, because it’s too much hassle,” said Patton, who got his car through the Motability scheme, which provides vehicles to people receiving disability benefits. “It’s totally illogical to have different rules when you cross council boundaries.
“You’re excluding people – you’re being denied basic freedom of movement. Blue badge use should be universal across the country,” Patton added.
Shani Dhanda, a 37-year-old disabled driver from Walsall, has begun using trains and taxis to get to work meetings in central London, because the parking rules in the four boroughs are so restrictive.
Shani Dhanda, co-founder of the Access to Work Collective, says the disabled parking system is a ‘mess’ (Photo: Stacie Stine/Access to Work Collective)“The system is a mess – it’s terrible,” said the accessibility consultant, who was born with a rare genetic condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly known as brittle bone disease.
“There are so many different rules between different councils – central London is the worst,” Dhanda said, adding it was “about lack of basic access”.
Councillor Johnny Thalassites, RBKC’s planning lead, said the council had to “carefully balance demand for parking”.
A City of London spokesperson said the area does not have the “kerbside capacity” to offer the same provision for blue badge holders as elsewhere in the country.
Lack of provision creating ‘unfair competition’
Several councils across the UK have cut or restricted the free parking available via blue badges – which cost £10 in England and £20 in Scotland – over the past year.
Powys County Council in Wales asked blue badge holders to pay for local authority-run car parks for the first time.
In Thanet in Essex, blue badge holders now have to pay to use council car parks after three hours. The district council said it brings charges “in line with all other Kent districts”.
And East Herts Council introduced a three-hour limit on free blue badge parking – citing the need to address a “funding gap” and end the “wild west” in free parking.
Disabled parking access is not consistent across the country (Photo:Matt Cardy/Getty)Sophia Kleanthous, the senior public affairs officer at Transport for All, said blue badge parking space provision is not “consistent” across the UK.
“Generally, there are insufficient [disabled] parking spaces. We’ve also seen some councils want to charge people for blue bay parking or cut free provision.”
Dhanda said there was not enough disabled parking bays in her home town of Walsall in the West Midlands. It is creating “unfair competition” between disabled people, she added.
A Walsall Council spokesperson said they followed “national standards for disabled parking bays in council-owned car parks”.
Guidance from the Department for Transport (DfT) – which oversees the blue badge scheme run by councils – says 5 to 6 per cent of car park bays should be for disabled drivers.
Transport for All wants that increased to 25 per cent to reflect the proportion of people in the UK who are disabled.
Fraud creating ‘loss of credibility’ in scheme
Misuse of blue badges is also adding to the tension in car parks, with some drivers verbally attacking disabled people because they suspect fraud.
Paul Slowey, the founder of the Blue Badge Fraud Investigation (BBFI) agency – a non-profit organisation working with 10 English local authorities to investigate possible misuse – said non-disabled family members are wrongly using loved ones’ blue badges.
Badges are also stolen by thieves, and a growing number of fake badges are being sold online.
A disabled badge holder shows their parking badge. A growing number of fake badges are being sold online (Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty)“There is so much abuse, so many using fake badges or using someone else’s badge, that there is loss credibility in the blue badge scheme,” Slowey warned.
“Many councils don’t do much enforcement,” he said, adding that the funding of investigations was just not a “priority” for many local authority bosses.
Dr Vera Kubenz, a University of Birmingham academic who has carried out research on the “terrifying” verbal abuse faced by blue badge holders, said the lack of enforcement “isn’t helping with the hostility and suspicion disabled people face”. A backlash over the largely taxpayer-funded Motability scheme may also be fuelling some of the resentment, she said.
Farah Black, a 50-year-old disabled motorist who lives in Northern Ireland, lost a leg from two separate amputations in 2016 and 2019 following a serious fall.
“I’ve had people ranting, shouting and swearing – accusing me of not looking disabled when I park up,” said the Motability user.
Farah Black at a Northern Ireland Assembly event on accessibility. She says people accuse her of not looking disabled when she’s parking up (Photo: Michael Cooper/NIA)“That abuse often only stops once I open the car door and my amputations are visible,” Black added.
“There is weak and inconsistent enforcement of misuse by non-disabled drivers, so genuine badge holders are scrutinised and questioned.”
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said enforcement to prevent blue badge fraud “requires scarce council resources”.
‘Confusing and inconsistent’ process to apply
Some 2.84 million blue badges are now held in the UK – a 10 per cent rise on the previous year, according to official figures in 2025.
Despite the growth of the scheme, there is frustration about the different ways that councils decide who qualifies. A recent report by Transport for All found that 53 per cent of disabled drivers have difficulty with the application process.
DfT guidance states that those in receipt of personal independence payments (PIP) – so long as they scored eight points in “moving around” questions or 10 points in “planning and following journeys” during the assessment for the benefit – should automatically be eligible.
But many disabled drivers face further assessment by their local authority. Some councils use occupational therapists for the assessment, while others do not. And some councils give a reason for rejecting an application, while others do not.
A BBC investigation in 2021 also found a “shocking disparity” between the higher approval rates of people with physical disabilities compared to those with non-visible disabilities. Some councils’ approval of physical conditions was 50 percentage points higher than non-visible conditions.
Transport for All said the disparity remained. Many drivers with fluctuating and “hidden” disabilities – including those who are neurodivergent – still struggle to get badges.
The application process is “confusing, complex and lacks any consistency”, said Kleanthous. “Disabled people are facing a postcode lottery across the country, because there is no standardised process. The system is failing disabled people.”
Black said she was rejected for a blue badge by Shropshire Council several times between 2012 and 2014 – a period after her fall left her with fractures, infection and sepsis. She finally got one in 2014.
“It’s not only a failure to properly recognise hidden disabilities, there seems to be a narrow understanding of all kinds of disabilities,” she said. “Many conditions don’t fit the boxes for their criteria.”
Transport for All urged the DfT to create eligibility criteria that is the same everywhere in country.
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A LGA spokesperson said: “Despite funding pressures which mean that council services are stretched, councils have helped more people to benefit from holding a blue badge.”
A DfT spokesperson said it was “vital” that anyone who is eligible for a blue badge gets one. “That’s why we’ve set clear criteria through national legislation for councils, who are responsible for assessing individual applications and issuing badges.”
All the councils mentioned in this article were approached for comment.
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