Blue badge uptake is down in Wigan

The charity Disability Rights UK says it is concerned that “more draconian” benefit assessments could be driving down use of Blue Badges across England.

Department for Transport statistics show that 57 per cent of the 17,500 people who automatically qualified for a Blue Badge in Wigan had one at the end of March.

Although local data was not available for 2014, the figure stood at 75 per cent in March 2015.

Blue Badges are issued by councils to people with disabilities and allow them to park closer to their destination.

Across England, 47 per cent of those eligible had a badge in March, down from a peak of 64 per cent five years earlier.

Sue Bott, from the charity Disability Rights UK, said: “We have concerns based on anecdotal evidence that where benefit assessments have become more draconian, people are losing their Motability vehicles as a result of losing benefits to which they should be entitled.

“This may be a factor in the downward trend of Blue Badge use.”

The figures also show there were three prosecutions for misusing the scheme in Wigan in 2018-19 – down from five in the previous year.

Across England, drivers abusing the system were prosecuted on 1,432 occasions in 2018-19, an 18 per cent increase on the year before.

Of those, 99 per cent were against non-badge holders.

However, a third of councils said they did not have a policy for prosecuting Blue Badge abuse.

The AA says the increase in prosecutions shows that more areas are “finally starting to tackle the issue”, but criticised councils without policies on the issue.

Edmund King, the motoring association’s president, added: “Councils without a policy must get their act together for the sake of the millions of Blue Badge holders who genuinely need them.

“Drivers must also show some more humanity and stop abusing the system.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said people could help their council win the fight against Blue Badge fraud by tipping off the local authority about suspected misuse.

But he added that members of the public should bear in mind that “people’s need for a badge might not be

obvious”.

Earlier this year, the DfT announced that the scheme would be extended to people with hidden disabilities, and launched a review into Blue Badge fraud.