The Blue Badge Scheme in North East Lincolnshire
Accessibility for all!
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.
The Blue Badge Scheme is effectively a replacement for the Orange Badge Scheme. The traffic signs which indicate Orange Badge Holders will be changed gradually and will remain valid until 2010.
Blue Badges are issued by the North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus. A fee of £2 is charged for issue of the badge which remains valid for a three year period.
Further information is available at the National Association of Blue Badge Holders site.
To come into line with Government Procedures a new system for the issuing of European Blue Badges has been devised.
To meet the criteria for a European Blue Badge you will need to meet one of the points below:
- Registration as totally blind under the National Assistance Act 1948. This does not apply to partially sighted registration
- Receipt of Mobility Allowance or the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance
- You receive a War Pensions Mobility Supplement
- You have severe disability in both upper limbs, regularly drive, but cannot turn the steering wheel by hand, even if the 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 last case, the issuing of a badge would be required to be supported by evidence from your General Practitioner, (on receipt of your application form we will write to your GP if appropriate). People with a psychological disorder will not normally qualify unless their impairment causes very considerable, and not intermittent, difficulty in walking.
If you meet the last criteria we will need to write to your GP for evidence to support this claim.
Please enclose all necessary evidence with your application form, i.e.:
- An official up to date letter confirming an award of payment of Mobility Allowance or the higher rate mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance
- Vehicle Excise Duty Exemption Certificate
- War Pensions' Mobility Supplement - copy of official letter confirming an award
You will also need to enclose your cheque/postal order for £2 and one passport sized photograph. If your application is not successful these are not returnable.
Please do not send originals. The department is not able to provide a photocopying service. You should photocopy any evidence yourself.
You will notice on the form there is a sticker where we require you or an advocate to sign your name . This will be attached to your Blue Badge. This is to prevent badge holders having to call into the department.
Application forms can be obtained from the North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus and from a wide variety of Council offices, Clinics and GP surgeries in the Borough or by ringing the telephone numbers detailed below.
Organisations caring for disabled people meeting one or more of the criteria above may qualify for a badge but this is at the discretion of the Blue Badge Department. A different application form must be completed for institutional badges.
The address to send your application form to is:
The European Blue Badge Department
North East Lincolnshire Care Trust Plus
Care Support Services
Unit 5 Acorn Business Park
Moss Road
Grimsby
DN32 OLT
Or you can e-mail BlueBadge@nelctp.nhs.uk and request a form.
If you are refused a Car Badge you have a right to appeal to the local authority to review the grounds of the refusal
Important Notes
There are the following exclusions to applications under the European Blue Badge Scheme:
- Children under the age of 2 years
- People with a temporary disability such as a broken leg, will not qualify for a badge
- People with intermittent disabilities will not quality
- Visitors to the North East Lincolnshire area cannot be issued with a car badge by this authority
- Temporary car badges for a period of less than 3 years
Badge holders will be responsible for ensuring they submit an application for a new badge before the expiry date. Applicants should allow 4 to 6 weeks for an application to be processed.
Contact Numbers
01472 629173 If this number is not answered, you may leave a voicemail message, which will be responded to within 1 working day
01472 325307 - Fax Machine
These telephone numbers are manned between the hours of 8.30 am to 5 pm, Monday to Thursday and 8.30 am to 4.30 pm on a Friday. This office is closed on a Saturday and Sunday and on Bank Holidays
E. Mail Address BlueBadge@nelctp.nhs.uk
Location This office is based at Unit 6, Acorn Business Park, Moss Road, Grimsby but is not accessible to the public. Surgeries are held at the Grimsby Municipal offices, Tuesday and Thursday morning between the hours of 10 am to 12 noon. Where there is disabled access
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