Committee to examine the misuse of disabled parking scheme

Proposals to tackle the misuse of the disabled parking blue badge scheme are to be examined by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee.

The Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges (Scotland) Bill, introduced by Dennis Robertson MSP, aims to improve the ability of local authorities to tackle wrongful use of the blue badge by strengthening current enforcement powers as well as introducing the ability to cancel and confiscate badges.

Committee convener, Kevin Stewart MSP, said: “The misuse of the blue badge scheme can have a major impact on the lives of those who rely on the ability to use disabled parking spaces to access the everyday services that most of us take for granted. We want to hear from people about the impact such misuse has on their lives and whether the Bill before us will make a difference.

“Measures such as confiscating and cancelling badges might appear extreme and we will look carefully at the proposals before us to see if they really will have the desired effect of deterring misuse.”

Brought forward in December by Robertson, the policy memorandum to the Bill states that its aim is to “protect the rights of badge holders and strengthen the existing framework of the scheme”.

The Bill would allow local authorities to cancel badges if lost or stolen, to confiscate badges that have been misused, and creates a new offence of using a cancelled badge. It also provides local authorities with the power to designate persons other than uniformed parking attendants to confiscate badges being misused.