1 in 20 people have a blue badge?

[Oodlesofnoodlez]

So I’ve just had to battle to get a family member a blue badge, they receive high rate of everything and immobile but still a complete battle.

so I’m thinking ‘ok it must be very very difficult to get therefore hardly any must be issued’…. Nope figures from 22-23 show almost 5% that’s 2.6 million people have a blue badge.

surely these figures cannot be correct?

will it be completely impossible to find disabled spaces now we’ve got the badge?

we are in the SE

Husband got one straight away with letter from doctor confirming he had cancer. He was mobile then, less so now, I'm the driver. But to be absolutely honest, it was to help with having free parking at the many many hospital appointments. Would have been hundreds of pounds otherwise. Different areas vary of course.

No, I don't think I've taken it out of context, I'm just noting how it seems almost an arbitrary decision from council to council, despite what it says about eligibility on the government website. Some people - very deserving - get their badge at the first time of asking, while others, equally deserving, have to battle layers of bureaucracy. A near neighbour who's a wheelchair user, lost both legs to diabetes, was refused having a disabled bay painted outside their house. Reason? Too many dropped kerbs on her road. She's currently appealing with help from her MP.

Comments on your thread, OP, show just what a lottery it is. And it shouldn't be.

Isn’t the whole point of them that they’re for people who have difficulty physically getting from A to B?

No. They are also for people who are at significant risk near vehicles. This includes people who have no sense of awareness or danger due to mental disability or illness.

We were turned down with high level PiP mobility. Apparently too disabled!

If the enhanced mobility is for mental health you do not automatically qualify for a blue badge. You can be entitled to a motability car but not the BB. Those who have standard mobility may get a BB if they have a certain number of physical points, but not the motability scheme. It may seem like an anomaly but it's a fact.

@Oodlesofnoodlez was it mental health not physical that the highest rate was awarded?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-badge-can-i-get-one/can-i-get-a-blue-badge

PIP does not give automatic entitlement, neither does DLA

Posters have explained on this thread about the descriptors needed to have an automatic entitlement for a BB. It is nothing to do with being too disabled. People who do not receive any disability benefits could just apply directly to their LA.

No

I applied for one recently on behalf of a very elderly person (mid 90s). I was told it was in no way automatic and that if they could walk 100yss with an aid
(eg a stick or a frame), . they would not be eligible. BBs are definitely difficult to get, with a physical disability, and also require a good amount of supporting medical evidence.

I know of a couple of people who run their mum around so hang onto the BB. They both use it themselves which is annoying when mum isn't even present.

I'm not against people with mental health difficulties getting blue badges, at all, but if they are scarce, I wouldn't like to see one go to a person with mental health difficulties over a very elderly person with very limited mobility. That would seem perverse to me.

Both DD and I work full time, but if DM has any appointments eg recent trip to optician we both have to take 1/2 a day off work to go and collect DM then one of us drops off DM with one person whilst other parks up
Even using Specsavers inside a local supermarket is like arranging a military operation

It is not the badges that are scarce, in my experience it is the amount of BB spaces that is the problem. There are not enough where I live.

I'm in Scotland, I was eligible for a BB with the higher rate of mobility, I had applied for one before my award and i was given an appointment to be assessed mobility wise. My neighbour doesn't have disability benefits and got her BB by hahing a motability assessment. Disabled parking spaces in a residential area are available for anyone to use that has a BB in our council area.

Edited because I misread

Yes, like my 89 year old mum just today. Wouldn't agree to me setting up online prescription delivery for all of her medications. Because she much prefers to go to the surgery to collect. However, please note she is no longer driving and refuses to take taxis. So, the collection is only possible if a family member takes her. The stubbornness at the cost to family is just extraordinary.

I am in this position and it pisses me off daily that I have a motability car but can't get a BB.

The rules are so batshit that if I lived in England I would have an automatic entitlement but Scotland's points requirements differ so I don't.

They may both be screwed without one though. It’s not a competition. Anyone with genuine need should get one.

BB holder who can only drive a few miles to one supermarket car park. After circling round the car park I often end up returning home as I can't get a disabled space and I can't get my leg and crutches out of the car without the extra room - I end up ordering an online shop.

Makes sense now I know the statistics on BB holders from the OP !

That's awful and I'm so sorry how can that be right!? I'm ignorant to the points requirements, I assumed higher rate was automatically awarded a BB in my area and they didn't look at where the points were allocated x

@NippyNinjaCrab

That's awful and I'm so sorry how can that be right!? I'm ignorant to the points requirements, I assumed higher rate was automatically awarded a BB in my area and they didn't look at where the points were allocated x

No it's not.

The vast majority of BB holders actually qualify with standard rate as you only need 8 points on the 'moving around' descriptor.

Plenty of disabled people won't need a Blue badge though, I'm registered as partially sighted but I have no need for a blue badge even though I'm technically disabled.

Yes that's probably why the amount isn't higher.

If you are severely sight impaired you are automatically eligible for one.

I’ve had a Blue Badge for around 25yrs, I qualify automatically under the rules of PIP, DLA before that.

I had to apply under the other rules recently, though, because my PIP was due to run out in December, at the same time as my badge, and they’d not looked at the renewal. It went through straight away, within a couple of days, on the medical evidence I provided. They didn’t even write to my GP.

Both PILs have one each. The GP supported FIL’s application, we had hospital letters to use in support of MIL’s