§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, (1) pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2002,Official Report, column 73W, on disability vehicle stickers, how many local authorities collect data on the number of charges and convictions for misuse of disabled persons' parking cards; [64449]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2002, Official Report, column 73W, on disability vehicle stickers, why records on the number of charges and convictions for the misuse of disabled persons' parking cards are not kept centrally; and how trends in the misuse of disabled persons' parking cards are recorded. [64450]
§ Mr. JamiesonThere is no legal requirement for local authorities to hold such records and the Department does not currently ask for that information as part of its annual blue badge statistical survey of local authorities in England. The devolved Administrations are responsible for the scheme in other parts of the UK.
The issues of misuse and abuse of badges are being considered as part of the review of the scheme which is currently under way.
§ Mr. HepburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what action he is taking to prevent able-bodied drivers using disabled parking spaces; [64356]
(2) what powers (a) the police and (b) local authorities have to deal with the abuse of disabled parking bays by able-bodied drivers. [64394]
883W
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Blue Badge scheme only applies to on-street parking. There is a wide variety of powers to tackle abuse available to local authorities, who are responsible for administering the Blue Badge scheme. It is an offence under section 47 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to park a vehicle which is not displaying a badge in a designated disabled person's parking bay.
Off-street car parks are private property and charges and conditions of use are a contractual matter between the owner and the motorist. In these car parks, spaces marked for badge holders only are in most cases not legally enforceable, but depend on the courtesy and consideration of other drivers. Car park operators could ask a non-disabled driver to move their car from a space set aside for disabled people but they might not be in a position to insist upon it.
The Department has, however, given its full support to the 'Baywatch' campaign run by a coalition of disability organisations (including the Disabled Drivers Association and the Disabled Drivers' Motor Club). They are committed to encouraging greater protection of disabled persons' parking bays in retail car parks from abuse by non-disabled drivers.
The issues of abuse and misuse of badges are a key part of the major review of the Blue Badge scheme that we are currently undertaking.
In the meantime, it is open to anybody to bring instances of fraudulent use to the attention of the police, traffic wardens, the appropriate local authority or car park operators and we will continue to work with these bodies and stakeholder groups to minimise the potential for abuse and misuse.