Blue Badge

Blue Badge Scheme

What is the Blue Badge Scheme?

The Blue Badge Scheme provides a national arrangement of parking concessions for people with severe walking difficulties who travel either as drivers or passengers. The Scheme also applies to registered blind people, and people with very severe upper limb disabilities who regularly drive a vehicle but cannot turn a steering wheel by hand and sevice peresonnel and veterans who meet the criteria as specified in the 'Disabled Services Personnel addendum'. The Blue Badge permits holders to park close to their destination. The national concessions allow badge holders to park on-street but it may not apply to car parks.

Please read this information carefully

If you have a Blue Badge but do not have a car, other people may use their own cars to drive you around. Please ask them to read this information too. They also need to know THEIR rights and responsibilities with the Blue Badge.

Criteria for obtaining a Blue Badge:

You can get a Blue Badge if:

you receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance on a long-term basis
you receive the War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement
you are registered blind
you hold a driving licence and have a severe impairment in both upper limbs and are unable to operate, or have a lot of difficulty operating, all or some types of parking meter.
you are unable to walk or have a lot of difficulty walking because of a permanent and substantial disability;
Children under the age of 3 can only get a Blue Badge if:
The child has medical condition (for example, children with hip dysplasia, children with tracheostomies) requiring the transportation of bulky medical equipment (for example, a cast, a ventilator) at all times, or;
The child has a medical condition that requires them to be kept near a motor vehicle at all times in order to be treated for that condition in the vehicle, or to allow them to be taken immediately to a place where they can be treated.
Service personnel and veterans who meet the criteria as specified in the 'Disabled Services Personnel addendum'.

People with a psychological disorder will not normally qualify unless their impairment causes very considerable, and not intermittent, difficulty in walking.

(Organisations caring for disabled people meeting one or more of the above criteria may be able to get a badge, but this is entirely at the discretion of the local authority and the conditions for using such a badge must be strictly observed)

How to apply for a Blue Badge

New applicant

If you think you may be entitled to a Blue Badge, you can call the Information and Advice Contact Centre on 020 8547 5005 or download an application form below.