§ Mr. Hanleyasked the Secretary of State for Transport what rules apply to the issue of disabled car stickers; in what way they differ from the previous regulations; and what is his estimate of the numbers benefiting from such stickers both before and after the change in rules.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) Regulations 1982 (SI 1982 No. 1740) which came into force on 16 March of this year were designed to reduce abuse and to ensure that badges are issued only to those with very severe mobility problems. The previous seven entitlement criteria for badges have been simplified and rearranged into four categories:
- (1) recipients of mobility allowanced;
- (2) the blind;
- (3) those using vehicles supplied by a Government Department or receiving a grant in respect of their own vehicle, or
- (4) people with a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking.
Badges should be issued virtually automatically to people in the first three categories, which are much simpler than the previous descriptive criteria. Local authorities have been asked to exercise particular care in applying the fourth criterion.
Some 680,000 badges were in use at the beginning of this year in England, Wales and Scotland; it is too early yet to say how many people will receive badges under the new rules.