Blue Badge Scheme
Where do I obtain a Blue Badge?
Bedford Borough Council
Blue Badges
Borough Hall
Cauldwell Street
Bedford
MK42 9AP
Tel: (01234) 718009
Email: blue.badges@bedford.gov.uk
If you wish to download a Blue Badge application form please do
so by clicking on one of the following links:
Blue Badge Application Form -
Individuals
Blue Badge Guidance Notes
- Individuals
Blue Badge Application Form -
Organisations
You can also apply for a Blue Badge online using the
following .Gov link:
https://www.gov.uk/apply-blue-badge
Do I have to pay for my Blue Badge?
Bedford Borough Council will charge a fee of £10 for each Blue
Badge issued (this includes new applications, renewal applications
and replacement badges).
The Council will collect payment via one of
the following methods:
New Applications/Renewal
Applications
A member of staff from the Council will call
you to notify you that your application for a Blue Badge has been
successful and payment is due. You will be given one of the
following payment options:
- Debit/credit card details can be taken over the phone and
payment will be taken (a receipt for this transaction can either be
emailed or posted to you).
- A ‘Blue Badge Payment Request’ form can either be sent to you
via post or collected from the main Town Hall or Borough Hall
receptions. This form will need to be completed fully and payment
made via one of the methods illustrated on the form.
Please note if we are unable to contact you
via telephone after seven working days we will send you a ‘Blue
Badge Payment Request’ form.
Note - If you do not receive your Blue Badge within 28
days of making payment you MUST inform Bedford Borough Council on
01234 718009. Failure to report the non-receipt of the badge within
28 days will result in you having to pay an additional
administrative fee.
Replacement Applications
To replace lost badges applicants must pay the
required £10 fee and provide a lost property number from the
police.
Please report the loss of your Blue Badge by
calling 01234 228588. At this point you will be given the following
methods of payment:
- Debit/credit card details can be taken over the phone and
payment will be taken (a receipt for this transaction can either be
emailed or posted to you).
- A ‘Blue Badge Payment Request’ form can either be sent to you
via post or collected from the main Town Hall or Borough Hall
receptions. This form will need to be completed fully and payment
made via one of the methods illustrated on the form.
Note - If you do not receive your Blue Badge within 28
days of making payment you MUST inform Bedford Borough Council on
01234 718009. Failure to report the non-receipt of the badge within
28 days will result in you having to pay an additional
administrative fee.
PLEASE
BE AWARE UNTIL PAYMENT IS RECEIVED A BLUE BADGE CANNOT BE
ISSUED
PLEASE
DO NOT SEND ANY PAYMENT
WITH YOUR APPLICATION FORM
What is the Blue Badge Scheme?
The Blue Badge Scheme provides a national
arrangement of parking concessions for people with severe walking
difficulties who travel either as drivers or passengers. The scheme
also applies to registered blind people, and people with severe
upper limb disabilities who regularly drive a vehicle but cannot
turn a steering wheel by hand. It allows badge holders to park
close to their destination, but the national concessions apply
only to on-street parking. Details are set out in the 'Where to
park' section below. In addition, other concessions may be
available to badge holders - see the 'Other concessions for badge
holders' section below.
You can download the Blue Badge application
form, complete it and return it with the requested enclosures
to:
Blue Badges
First Floor
Borough Hall
Cauldwell Street
Bedford
MK42 9AP
You can apply for a Blue Badge
if:
- you receive the higher rate of the mobility
component of the Disability Living allowance
- you receive a War Pensioners' Mobility
Supplement
- you are registered blind
- you have a severe disability in both upper
limbs, regularly drive a motor vehicle but cannot turn the steering
wheel of a motor vehicle by hand even if that wheel is fitted with
a turning knob
- you have a permanent and substantial disability
which means you are unable to walk or have very considerable
difficulty in walking. In this case you may be asked to answer
series of questions to help the local authority determine whether
you are eligible for a badge People with a psychological disorder
will not normally qualify unless their impairment causes very
considerable, and not intermittent, difficulty in walking.
*Special Rules for children under two
A parent of a child who is less than two years
old may apply for a badge for their child if the child has a
specific medical condition which means that they :
a) must always be accompanied by bulky medical
equipment which cannot be carried around without great difficulty
;
and/or
b) need to be kept near a vehicle at all
times, so that they can, if necessary, be treated in the vehicle,
or quickly driven to a place where they can be treated, such as a
hospital.
A list of bulky medical equipment referred to
above may include;
- ventilators
- suction
machines
- feed pumps
- parenteral
equipment
- syringe
drivers
- oxygen administration
equipment
- continuous oxygen
saturation monitoring equipment
- casts and associated
medical equipment for the correction of hip dysplasia
A local authority will issue a badge if the
equipment is always needed and cannot be carried without great
difficulty
Examples of highly unstable medical conditions
that mean children who have them may need quick access to transport
to hospital or home may include
- tacheostomies
- severe
epilepsy/fitting
- highly unstable
diabetes
- terminal illness that
prevent children from spending any more than brief moments outside
and who need a quick route home.
Please note this list is not
exhaustive
To check if you meet the eligibility
criteria for a Blue Badge please see the Blue Badge Assessment
Form.
Organisational Badge
An organisational badge may be issued to an
organisation for use in a motor vehicle(s) when the vehicle(s) are
be used to carry disabled people who would themselves be eligible
for a badge.
Where possible applicants who meet the eligibility criteria
should apply for their own badge.
Photographs
The Blue Badge is a two-sided card with space
for a photograph of the badge holder on the back of the card. Your
application should, therefore, be accompanied by 2 reasonably
recent photographs, which you should sign on the back. You may send
passport-type photographs taken from self-service booths or any
suitable photographs cut down to a passport photo size (the Bedford
Borough Council reserves the right to refuse photographs it deems
unsuitable for identification purposes).
Where does the scheme not apply?
- on private roads
- in off-street car parks. However, some may
provide spaces for disabled people. You should check the signs to
see what concessions are available, and whether Blue Badge holders
have to pay. Always display your Blue Badge when occupying one of
these spaces.
- in certain town centres, where access is
prohibited or limited to vehicles with special permits issued
locally.
- in Central London but some facilities are
provided
on the road systems at some airports (e.g. Heathrow, Gatwick and
Manchester). You should therefore contact the airport concerned in
advance to check the car parking arrangements.
Where to Park?
Badge holders may park free of charge and
without time limit at parking meters on-street and
"pay-and-display" on-street parking unless a local traffic order,
specifying a time limit for holders of disabled parking Badges, is
in force.
The Blue Badge must be displayed.
Badge holders may be exempt from limits on parking times imposed
on other users. (Check local signs for information.)
Badge holders may usually park on single or double yellow lines
for up to three hours in England and Wales, or without any time
limit in Scotland except where there is a ban on loading or
unloading, and at a few locations where local schemes apply, e.g.
the area of Central London coloured light blue in the map.
The Blue Badge must be displayed, and
in England and Wales the disabled person's parking disc must
also be displayed showing the time of arrival.
There must be an interval of at least one hour
from a previous period of waiting before the same vehicle can be
parked in the same road or part of a road on the same day.
Where should you not
park?
The Blue Badge is not a licence to park
anywhere. You must NOT park:
during the time a ban on loading or unloading
is in force (normally indicated by one or two yellow marks on the
kerb at the times shown on post mounted plates) .
For example:
Loading prohibited 24 hours a day,7 days a
week, for at least 4 consecutive months.
Loading prohibited for any lesser period. The
arrow indicates the direction in which the prohibition starts.
However, in pedestrian areas, waiting and
loading restrictions may be in force even where there are no yellow
lines shown on the road or kerb. Details of any restrictions in
force will be shown on plates displayed at the kerb side of the
road:
- where there are double white lines in the centre
of the road even if one of the lines is broken
- in a bus or tram lane during its hours of
operation
- in a cycle lane
- on any clearway, double or single red lines
during their hours of operation
- on Zebra, Pelican or Toucan crossings
- on zig-zag markings before and after Zebra,
Pelican or Toucan crossings
- in parking places reserved for specific users
e.g. loading bays, taxis, cycles
- on a residents parking bay, unless there are
signs showing that you may do so, or you have checked with the
local authority's Highway Department that you may do so
- in suspended meter bays or when use of the meter
is prohibited
- where temporary restrictions on parking are in
force along a length of road e.g. as indicated by no-waiting
cones
- on school "keep clear" markings during the hours
shown on a yellow no-stopping plate
- You must also not park where it would be
obstructive or cause a danger to others. The following are likely
examples:
- at school entrances, bus stops, on a bend, or
near the brow of a hill or hump bridge
- where it would make it difficult for others to
see clearly e.g. close to a junction
- where it would make the road narrow e.g. by a
traffic island or where roadwork is in progress
- where it would hold up traffic e.g. in narrow
stretches of road or blocking vehicle entrances
- where emergency vehicles stop or go in and out
e.g. hospital entrances
- where the kerb has been lowered or the road
raised to form a pedestrian crossing
- on a pavement unless signs permit it
Please remember….
If you park where it would cause an
obstruction or danger to other road users your vehicle could be
removed by the police. You could also be prosecuted and your badge
withdrawn.
Vehicles cannot legally be wheel clamped on
the public highway for parking offences provided a valid Blue Badge
is correctly displayed on the vehicle. But you should be aware that
if you park improperly on privately owned land you may risk having
your vehicle wheel clamped.
The vehicle must be moved if a police officer
or a traffic warden in uniform requests it.
How to use the badge
You must display the badge on top of the
dashboard or facia panel of a vehicle with the front of the badge
(i.e. the side showing the wheelchair-user symbol) facing forward
so that the relevant details are legible from outside of the
vehicle when using the parking benefits. If the vehicle does not
have a dashboard or facia panel you must exhibit the badge in a
conspicuous position on the vehicle so that the relevant details
are legible from outside the vehicle when using the parking
benefits.
The badge should only be displayed when using
the parking benefits under the Scheme, except if the vehicle is
being driven by someone other than the badge holder for the purpose
of entering or leaving an area (which is accessible only to
vehicles displaying a Blue Badge) in order to pick up or drop off
the badge holder.
Similar badges given to organisations caring
for disabled people must not be used by non-disabled members for
their own benefit. These badges must not be on display except when
the vehicle is being used for the benefit of disabled people.
Badges last for a maximum of three years. When
you need to renew your badge apply to the issuing
authority for reassessment some weeks before the badge expires.
You must return the badge to the issuing
authority if you no longer need it.
How to use the disabled person's
parking disc
In England and Wales you will need a parking
disc (which you can get from the authority issuing the badge) when
you park on yellow lines or in a reserved parking place for badge
holders which has a time limit. The disc must be displayed every
time you park and set to show the time of arrival.
Your duties as a badge
holder
You must ensure that you use your badge with
care and attention to the rules.
It is your responsibility to ensure that the
badge is used properly. It is in your own interest that the badge
should retain the respect of other motorists.
You must not allow other people to use the
badge. To reduce the risk of this happening accidentally, you
should remove the badge whenever you are not using the parking
concessions except in the circumstances listed at the end of the
'Misuse of a badge' section below.
You must ensure that the details on the front of the badge remain
legible. If they become unreadable, the badge must be returned to
the local authority for re-issue.
You should not use the badge to allow
non-disabled people to take advantage of the benefits while you sit
in the car. Although it is not illegal for a badge holder, or a
non-disabled person waiting for the badge holder to return, to
remain in the vehicle while the Blue Badge is displayed,
consideration should be given to using a car park wherever
possible.
If you are a disabled
driver
Remember that if you are a disabled driver and
your disability is such that it is likely or may become likely to
affect your ability to drive (even if your car is adapted) the law
requires you to inform:
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Swansea
SA99 ITU
How to request an
on-street disabled parking bay
Bedford Borough Council can allocate a disabled
parking bay outside or near to your home (subject to criteria). The
purpose of the bay is to allow a disabled driver/passenger to park
close to their home. Whilst we can allocate a disabled bay in your
street, this bay can be used by all Blue Badge Holders and is not
specifically allocated to the applicant.
To request a disabled parking bay outside your home, please
contact the Highways Helpdesk whom will send you the relevant
application to complete.
PLEASE NOTE: The provision of an on-street parking bay is not
automatic
Misuse of the badge
Misuse of a Blue Badge is a serious
offence.
Your badge can be withdrawn if you misuse it
or allow others to misuse it.
It is a criminal offence for non-disabled
people to use a badge. If they do so, they are liable to a fine of
up to £1000.
It is a criminal offence to drive a vehicle
displaying an Blue Badge unless the badge holder is in the vehicle,
or the vehicle is being driven by someone other than the badge
holder for the purpose of entering or leaving an area (which is
accessible only to vehicles displaying an Blue Badge) in order to
pick up or drop off the holder.
Please click here to report misuse of a Blue Badge using an online
form
Misuse of a designated Blue Badge
bay
Non-disabled people who park in a bay
designated for Blue Badge holders are liable to a parking fine.
Other concessions for badge
holders
In many areas local authorities provide
reserved parking places for badge holders. You should use these
spaces in preference to parking on yellow lines. Local authorities
may impose a time limit on the use of such spaces. You must always
display a valid badge when occupying one of these spaces, and if a
time limit is in force a disabled person's parking disc must also
be displayed.
Some local authorities also waive charges in
their own off-street car parks. You are advised to check the
notices in the car park to see if, and where, you can park free of
charge.
Badge holders are exempted from tolls at
certain river crossings. Further details of these concessions may
be obtained by writing to:
The Department of the Environment Transport
and the Regions
Disability Branch
Mobility Unit
Zone 1/11
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
Telephone: 020 7944 6800
With the introduction of the new
European-style blue badge, badge holders will be able to take
advantage of the disabled motorists parking privileges wherever
they are in the European Union. Further details of the benefits
available may be obtained by contacting the Department as shown
below.