§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will make it his policy to make it an offence to park in disabled parking boxes without authorisation; [69051]
(2) what recent representations he has received in favour of making unauthorised parking in disabled parking boxes a criminal offence. [69052]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonIt is already an offence under Section 47 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to park a vehicle which is not displaying an Orange Badge in an on-street designated disabled persons' parking bay.
The Orange Badge Scheme does not, however, apply to off-street car parks, whether local authority or privately owned, and enforcement of those disabled persons' parking bays is a matter for the operator concerned. In the case of local authority off-street car parks, their off-street parking place orders normally make it either an offence for someone not displaying a valid Orange Badge to park in a disabled persons' parking bay or make it subject to the payment of an "excess charge". In private car parks, we understand it is possible in law for the owners to agree with the local authority that a parking place order be made in respect of that car park. Conditions of use can then be enforced as if it were a local authority car park, with penalties or excess charges levied on offenders.