Mental health patients to get free parking blue badges

THE blue badge parking permit scheme is being extended to include people with ‘hidden disabilities’ such as autism and mental health issues.

From next year they will have the same right to a badge allowing them to park closer to their destinations as those with physical disabilities.

The move will mean the number of users will rise from 2.4million to an estimated four million.

The Department for Transport said it was the largest overhaul of the system since it was introduced more than 40 years ago. It added that while current rules do not exclude those with non-physical disabilities, they ‘are open to interpretation’ by the local authorities that issue blue badges and require greater clarity.

Having a blue badge enables holders to use disabled-only bays, park free of charge in payand-display bays and for up to three hours on yellow lines. In London it exempts holders from the Congestion Charge.

Those who will be eligible under the changes include people who cannot make a journey without ‘a risk of serious harm to their health or safety’ or that of others, including young autistic children, drivers for whom journeys cause ‘very considerable psychological distress’ and those who struggle with ‘both the physical act and experience of walking’.

But although blue badges provide an invaluable lifeline for many drivers, they have also been widely misused by those who do not have a disability. Lifeline: The parking permit In 2016/17, the latest figures available, 1,131 people were prosecuted for abusing the scheme.

The vast majority of convictions – 98 per cent – were for wrongly using a blue badge validly held by someone else. But the actual number doing so could be much higher as 44 per cent of councils do not prosecute for the offence.

Transport minister Jesse Norman said yesterday: ‘Blue badges are a lifeline for disabled people, giving them the freedom and confidence to get to work and visit friends independently.

‘The changes will ensure that this scheme is extended equally to people with hidden disabilities so that they can enjoy the freedoms that many of us take for granted.’

The change follows an eightweek consultation launched in January which had more than 6,000 responses.

Jane Harris, director of external affairs at the National Autistic Society, said the overhaul would ‘ make a massive difference to the lives of many of the 600,000 autistic people in England, and their families’.

She added: ‘Just leaving the house is a challenge for many autistic people, involving detailed preparation and sometimes overwhelming anxiety about plans going wrong. The possibility of not being able to find a parking space near where you’re going can mean you can’t contemplate leaving the house at all.’

The blue badge scheme in Scotland was permanently extended in December to cover carers and relatives of people with conditions such as dementia, autism and Down’s syndrome.