West Sussex County Council: Disabled Badges

Links to Sections

• Blue Badge Scheme
• Where to Park
• Where not to Park
• Misuse of a Badge/Badge Inspections
• Department for Transport

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. It allows badge holders to park close to their destination, but the national concessions apply only to on-street parking. In addition, other concessions may be available to badge holders.

What about the Orange Badge?

The Blue Badge Scheme is effectively a replacement for the Orange Badge Scheme. The new European style Blue Badge was introduced in April 2000 and all Orange Badges have now expired.

You can get a badge if:

• you receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance;
• you receive a War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement;
• you use a motor vehicle supplied for disabled people by a Government Health Department;
• you are registered blind;
• you have a severe disability in both upper limbs, regularly drive a motor vehicle but cannot turn the steering wheel of a motor vehicle by hand even if that wheel is fitted with a turning knob;
• you have a permanent and substantial disability which means you are unable to walk or have very considerable difficulty in walking. In this case you may be asked to answer a series of questions to help the local authority determine whether you are eligible for a badge.
• People with a psychological disorder will not normally qualify unless their impairment causes very considerable, and not intermittent, difficulty in walking.

If you think you may be entitled to a badge, you should apply to the Adults' Services Department of your County using the form. If in doubt, please call us on 01243 777653

(Note: Children under two years of age do not qualify for a badge because they would not normally be expected to be able to walk independently. 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 local authorities' discretion and the conditions for using such a badge must be strictly observed )