"they also exempt the vehicle from Congestion Charge, so for anyone travelling in and out of Central / West London, buying one in a pub ( the most used location one is told ) is a very good investment."- The Congestion Charge exemption works by Blue Badge Holders applying to TfL for exemption of their cars from the charge - there is no need to display (and no point in displaying) the Badge on the dashboard when entering or driving through the Zone - the Congestion Charge database will automatically disregard the reg no of any such exempt vehicle detected on entry. So for whatever reason Blue Badges are 'bought in pubs' it certainly can't be to evade the Congestion Charge - the illicit purchaser wouldn't be registered disabled and so wouldn't be able to get registered for the Congestion Charge exemption.There's another issue concerning use of Blue Badges in 'Central London - the outrageous exemption of certain 'Central' London boroughs from the (otherwise countrywide) oblgation to allow Blue Badge Holders to park on-street, on the spurious grounds that this being the 'hub of the universe' the whole country's disabled persons would otherwise descend on this hallowed spot and swamp it with their parking. Thus in the whole of the City of London, LB Camden south of the A503, the whole of the City of Westminster and the whole of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (yea, even unto the remotest backstreets of North Kensington and Maida Vale) - but NOT any part of the Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, Southwark or Lambeth which also come within Central London - national Blue Badge Holders can only use their badges in the (inevitably limited) supply of on-street Blue Badge parking bays - the normal entitlement to park on yellow lines and in other parking bays is rstricted to residents of those priveliged borough areas, which have their own disabled badge schemes with distinctive badges. This ludicrous anomaly is compounded by the fact that national Blue Badge Holders CAN park in Red Route parking bays (but not loading bays) in those areas with only the normal 3-hour time limit. High time to get rid of this outrageous embargo conferred on this overpriviliged group of central London local authorities."They seem to be issued to the " person " and not the vehicle as I know of a case where husband and wife switch one between each of their 3 cars, depending on the most needy at any one time." - And rightly so - the non-disabled spouse, partner, friend or even paid assistant may need to drop-off or pick up the disabled Blue Badge Holder even if not waiting around for them, and on such occasions it's quite right for the non-disabled driver to use the Badge when parking up for that purpose."Needless to say, there appears to be nothing physically wrong with either of these persons, so at the appropriate stage I will shop them."- If you're so convinced they've got the Blue badge fraudulently the 'appropriate time' to shop them is NOW if not sooner! If you're proved wrong I trust we can look forward to your humble public retraction here. FYI there are many significant and permanent seriously mobility-impairing conditions which do not cause the sufferer to exhibit obvious signs of their impairment and suffering on all occasions if at all."They have at least one house worth 1.5 million or more and cars costing 100 grand."- The Blue Badge system is based on physical need, not financial means - rightly IMHO. If you disagree, by all means start a campaign to drag the Blue Badge system - and disabled people who alrady have more than enough to put up with, Badge or no Badge - through the further minefield of means-testing and see how far you get.One final point - only those with a 'significant AND PERMANENT' disability are entitled to a Blue Badge. Thus people can spend months or even years recovering from the severely disabling effects of (for example) a broken limb or a hip replacement operation and get no help whatever with their parking-related access needs.
Chris Veasey ● 6533d