Blue badge parking scheme

If you do not already have a My Council account you will be asked to set one up. This needs to be using the name and address of the applicant even if you are applying for someone else.

Once you have created an account, you will receive an email to verify your account. Once you have done this, you can login and start your application.

Please note: do not apply for more than one person using the same login.

Your application will save up to the end of the last section you completed, and you can go back to it and make changes until you have submitted it. Use the button below to log in to your account.

At the end of the application you can upload any documents that support your application.

Please follow the link below.

If you have started an online application and wish to go back and complete it, please follow the link below:

• Fill in our online form to apply for or re-apply for a Blue Badge
• You should re-apply for a Blue Badge at least 10 weeks before your current one expires.
• You will need to provide up to date evidence and may need to attend an assessment to determine if you qualify.
• To complete this form you will need to provide:
  • proof of identity
  • proof of address
  • a recent photograph

Proof of address and identity

• Proof of address
• We will accept one of the following:
  • Council tax bill (from the last 12 months)
  • Utility bill (less than three months old and not mobile phone)
  • Driving licence
  • School records (for under 18’s)
  • DWP – PIP/DLA or Pensions letter
  • Bank statement (less than three months old)
  • Prescription sheet from a GP

• Proof of identity

We will accept one of the following if it is not used as your proof of address:

• • Birth or adoption certificate
  • Marriage or civil partnership certificate
  • Dissolution or divorce certificate
  • Passport
  • Driving licence
  • Bus pass

Photograph

You will need to upload a recent digital photo to be printed on the back of your Blue Badge. Make sure it:

• has a plain, light, background
• includes face and shoulders
• shows your face clearly
• is a true likeness or taken within the last six months
• no filters should be used
• in colour
• jpeg/gif/png and less than 10MB

Period of issue

If you are eligible, your Blue Badge will be issued for the period of your supporting evidence up to a maximum of three years

After you have applied

If you are eligible, your Blue Badge will be sent to your home address.

It should be noted that the badge remains the property of the issuing local authority which has powers to withdraw the badge if misused.

If you are not eligible, you will be notified of the reason, and if you have already paid, your payment will be refunded.

You would be eligible for a Blue Badge without further assessment if you meet one of the following criteria:

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

• If you receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and have been awarded 8 points or more for the ‘moving around’ activity of the mobility component – you will need to provide your full PIP award letter dated within the last 12 months. If your letter is over 12 months old you will also need to provide a yearly update letter, dated within the last 12 months. If you need to request an update letter dated within the last 12 months, the number to call is 0800 121 4433

If your letter states Attendance Allowance, you should not apply under this criteria.

High Rate of the Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

If you receive the High Rate of Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) – you will need to provide your DLA award letter dated within the last 12 months.  If your letter is over 12 months old, you will need to call and ask for an up to date letter to be sent to you.

• If you were born before 8 April 1948, the number to call is 0800 731 0122
• If you were born after 8 April 1948, the number to call is 0800 121 4600

If your letter states Attendance Allowance, you should not apply under this criteria.

Registered severely sight impaired (blind)

• If you are registered as severely sight impaired (blind) – you will need to provide your Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI), BD8 form or your visually impaired green card

If you are registered sight impaired (partially sighted), you should not apply under this criteria.

War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement

• If you receive War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement – you will need to provide your War Pensioner’s entitlement letter stating that you receive the Mobility Supplement. If you do not have a letter, you will need to call Veterans UK and ask for a letter to be sent to you.
  • The number to call is 0808 1914 218

Lump sum benefit armed forces and reserved forces compensation scheme

• If you have received a lump sum benefit within tariff levels 1-8 of the armed forces and reserved forces compensation scheme and have been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking – you will need to provide your full award letter which confirms this. If you do not have a letter, you will need to call Veterans UK and ask for a letter to be sent to you.
  • The number to call is 0808 1914 218

Terminal illness and not expected to live more than six months

If you feel you are eligible under this criteria, please contact the Blue Badge Support on 01724 297000 to discuss your individual needs.

You may be eligible for a Blue Badge following further assessment if you meet any of the following criteria:

A person who does not meet the above criteria may still qualify if one of the following apply:

Enduring and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have considerable difficulty walking

• You need to complete a full application giving details of your health conditions or disabilities and the impact this has on your mobility. In order to assess your eligibility, you may be required to attend a mobility assessment, carried out by an expert assessor.

Regularly drives a vehicle and has a severe disability in both arms and is unable to operate or has considerable difficulty in operating all or some types of on-street parking equipment

• Only drivers with the most severe disabilities in both arms will qualify under this criteria. Medical evidence or an assessment may be needed to determine eligibility.

Child under three years old who must always be accompanied by bulky medical equipment

• Examples of bulky medical equipment may include (but is not limited to):
  • 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

Child under three years old who need to be kept near a vehicle at all times

• A child under three years old who needs to be kept near a vehicle at all times so that treatment can be given in the vehicle or the child can be quickly driven to a place where they can be treated, such as a hospital.
• Examples of highly unstable medical conditions may include (but is not limited to):
  • Tracheostomies
  • Severe epilepsy / fitting
  • Highly unstable diabetes

• Terminal illnesses which prevent the child from spending any more than brief moments outside and who need a quick route home

From 30 August 2019 a new criteria for Blue Badge applications in England was introduced.

Due to the nature of non-visible (hidden) conditions, applications will be assessed by considering an applicant’s needs and the impact a Blue Badge would have on their quality of life.

Having a certain condition or disability does not automatically entitle someone to a Blue Badge

You will be eligible for a Blue Badge without further assessment if you meet the following criteria:

Receipt of the mobility component of PIP – with a score of 10 points in Planning and following a journey for descriptor (e)

• If you receive the 10 points in “Planning and following a journey”. Specifically, the 10 points which says: “Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant.” You will need to provide your full PIP award letter dated within the last 12 months. If your letter is over 12 months old you will also need to provide a yearly update letter dated within the last 12 months.  If you need to request an update letter dated within the last 12 months, the number to call is 0800 121 4433.

If you did not score this; you should not apply under this criteria.

Other benefits:

There is no automatic eligibility under non-visible (hidden) condition with other benefits, including:

• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Attendance Allowance (AA)

If you do receive one of these benefits, you can still apply – your application will be considered under our eligibility criteria detailed in the next section.

You may be eligible for a Blue Badge following further assessment if you meet one of the following criteria:

Permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have considerable difficulty walking

If there is a non-visible (hidden) condition, causing a severe struggle with journeys between a vehicle and the destination, and at least one of the following apply:

• you are constantly a significant risk to yourself or others near vehicles, in traffic or car parks
• you severely struggle to plan or follow a journey
• you find it difficult or impossible to control your actions and lack awareness of the impact you could have on others
• you regularly have intense and overwhelming responses to situations causing temporary loss of behavioural control
• you frequently become extremely anxious or fearful of public/open spaces

Organisations concerned with the care of disabled people can apply for a Blue Badge for vehicles like minibuses or specially adapted vehicles if they:

• care for and transport disabled people who would meet the eligibility criteria for an individual Blue Badge; and
• have a clear need for an organisational badge rather than using the individual Blue Badges of people it transports.

Please contact Blue Badge Support on 01724 297000.

1. The Blue Badge (Disabled Parking) Scheme provides a national arrangement of parking concessions for those people who have an enduring disability or health condition that means they have substantial difficulty walking. The Department for Transport provides guidance to local authorities on administering and enforcing the scheme. North Lincolnshire Council Blue Badge Support Team and Community Warden and Parking Service are responsible for the administration and enforcement of the scheme.

2. The misuse of the Blue Badge scheme undermines the benefits of the scheme, impacts upon local traffic management and can create hostility amongst other badge holders and members of the public. It can result in a genuinely disabled person being unable to access designated parking spaces.

3. The vast majority of Blue Badge holders use their badges responsibly. However, there are individuals who misuse the scheme. This misuse can take a number of forms:

Misuse by the badge holder:

• Parking in the wrong place or parking for too long where there is a time limit
• Use of a badge that is no longer valid
• Use of a badge reported as lost or stolen
• Letting a friend or relative use the badge
• Use of a copied badge
• Altering the details on the badge, e.g. the expiry date
• Making a fraudulent application (e.g. providing false information on the application) or using a badge obtained fraudulently

Misuse by a third party:

• Using someone else’s badge (with or without the badge holder’s knowledge) without the badge holder being present in the vehicle at the time of parking
• Using a badge belonging to someone who has died
• Copying, altering or faking badges
• Using a stolen badge
• Using a fake badge

This list is not exhaustive.

4. It is a criminal offence to misuse a Blue Badge. In the event of someone being found to be in contravention of the Blue Badge scheme, this policy seeks to ensure that:

• The message is clear that misuse of the scheme will not be tolerated
• We provide support to blue badge holders to help them to understand their responsibilities as badge holders and reduce misuse
• We enforce the blue badge scheme in a fair and consistent manner
• We take appropriate and proportionate action to stop any misuse
• We undertake criminal proceedings in line with our prosecution policy when necessary

Prevention

5. We operate a robust application process to minimise the number of false applications being successful.

6. Every successful applicant for a Blue Badge will be issued with the Department for Transport’s ‘The Blue Badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England’ leaflet. This provides the badge holder with the information they need to ensure the badge is used appropriately.

7. Each applicant when applying will also be required to sign a declaration confirming that they will not allow the misuse of a badge that has been issued to them.

Detection

8. We will inspect vehicles parked on the public highway and in Council car parks using a Blue Badge, as part of the duties of our Civil Enforcement Officers (CEO). Where there is evidence of misuse and the misuse constitutes a contravention of the Traffic Management Act 2004, the CEO will take the appropriate action in line with North Lincolnshire Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement Policy. The CEO may also consider seizing the badge and returning it to the issuing authority if they establish reasonable grounds to do so and is practical.

9. If the misuse is by someone other than the badge holder, we will contact the badge holder to remind them of their responsibility to ensure the badge is not misused and that allowing another person to misuse the badge is a criminal offence. If the misuse continues, we will notify the badge holder that further misuse may lead to a refusal to renew the blue badge and that we may consider criminal proceedings if the misuse continues.

10. We may receive information on potential blue badge misuse from the public, our employees and other third parties. We will consider all allegations made and determine the appropriate action to be taken. Actions may range from reminding the badge holder of their responsibilities to criminal investigation dependant on the individual circumstances of the allegation.

11. Where intelligence suggests particular areas of Blue Badge misuse, we will consider undertaking operations to target these areas.

Investigation

12.  If the misuse could also constitute other criminal offences (other than road traffic offences), we will take the appropriate action to stop the misuse and investigate the offence. The issue of a Penalty Charge Notice for contraventions of road traffic regulations does not prevent us from also pursuing criminal offences. Such investigations are not limited to the badge holder, but also include third parties misusing the badge.

13.  Criminal investigations will be conducted by professionally trained officers from the Counter Fraud Team in accordance with the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act 1996, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and any other legislation that may be appropriate to a particular investigation.

14. We will use the personal data we hold for the prevention and/or detection of crime where it is appropriate and lawful to do so.

Redress

15. Where evidence of wrongdoing is identified we may take one or more of the following courses of action in accordance with the relevant legislation:

• Remind the badge holder of their responsibilities
• Inform the person misusing the Blue Badge that they are committing offences and may be prosecuted for future offences
• Retain the Blue Badge
• Refuse to renew a Blue Badge
• Cancel a Blue Badge
• Refuse an application for a Blue Badge
• Offer an individual a formal caution as an alternative to prosecution
• Prosecution

16. Where we have grounds to believe that the badge holder will permit another person to continue to misuse a badge, we will consider refusing to renew the badge once it has expired.

17. Where a Blue Badge holder has been convicted of an offence in relation to the misuse of that badge, we will consider withdrawing the badge.

Legislation

• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/682);
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1507);
• The Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Exemptions for Disabled Persons) (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/683);
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2531);
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2600);
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/1307).
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/2675)
• The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013
• The Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Act 2013
• The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
• Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
• The Fraud Act 2006
• Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984
• Criminal Procedures & Investigation Act 1996