How to get a Blue Badge for disabled parking
If you or your passenger has severe mobility problems, the Blue Badge scheme lets you park nearer your destination than you might otherwise be able to. It gives you exemption from some parking restrictions and access to designated parking spaces.
Blue Badge holders are exempt from certain parking restrictions, including being allowed to park:
- free of charge at on-street parking meters and in Pay and Display bays
- on single or double yellow lines for up to 3 hours, except where there is a ban on loading or unloading.
Some local authorities put additional restrictions on Blue Badge holders; check with the local authority in the area you’re travelling to to find out what the local rules are. The scheme does not apply in certain boroughs in London, which offer their own parking concessions.
To find Blue Badge parking bays across the UK, check the GOV UK website.
Do I qualify for a Blue Badge?
You can qualify for a Blue Badge if one or more of these criteria apply to you:
- you get the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance or, if you claim Personal Independence Payment, you score a certain level on the Moving Around activity.
- you receive a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
- you are a registered blind person
- you have received a lump sum benefit from the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation Scheme (within tariff levels 1-8). You must also have been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability which causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking
- you have a permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty in walking (you will need to show that this criterion applies to you and you may have to be assessed by a medical professional such as physiotherapist or occupational therapist).
Apply for a Blue Badge
You can apply direct to your local authority, or online via the GOV.UK website.