The good, the bad and the ugly

This is the combined experience of two elderly (both over 80) Wokingham residents trying to renew a blue badge

THE GOOD – both residents ended up with face to face meetings at Shute End. The staff who dealt with these were really excellent – empathetic, efficient and very personable. Really good.

THE BAD – the fact that both octogenarians have family/friends support networks was the only reason they managed to renew their blue badges.

The online process is ‘in need of improvement’.

As an example - a process that requires copies of various documentation that does not accept PDF as a format is not particularly user friendly.

Both sets of support networks described the online process as a ’frustrating nightmare’. It took a lot of effort to finally get to a face to face solution.

THE UGLY – By definition the blue badge community is very likely to need help and support with this type of process. By trying to force this community online when many don’t even own a computer yet alone go on-line is an ugly decision.

Both residents graphically described the worry, stress and distress caused by Wokingham’s blue badge renewal process.

Anything that causes that much anxiety to over 80-year-olds can only be described as ugly. If these two over 80’s had not had a determined support network they would not have been able to renew their blue badges.

How many without support have simply lost the freedom a blue badge can give? That really would be ugly! Jim Frewin, Shinfield