Visiting Kings College hospital and wanting to use a blue badge in a disabled bay?

[trinidad]

Just thought i would warn everyone, if you are thinking of using a blue badge to park in a disabled bay, you only are allowed 4 hours max. This might be tricky if you are attending A/E. They do have signs, but you really have to look for them. 

 

Just thought I would warn everyone, their parking company give out tickets, like confetti. If you can, try and use the roads by Lambeth council. There permit holder holds allow unlimited parking for blue badge holders. I do not think this is the case for Southwark council 

[SpringTime]

That's useful advice, thanks x

[tjbuilders]

Thank you.

[Sally Eva]

I think you are right re Southwark

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/parking/disabled-parking/parking-with-a-blue-badge

[first mate]

The stipulation that only one vehicle can be registered and associated with the Blue Badge seems short-sighted. What if you need a carer or relative to take you somewhere, they may not always be the same person or car.

[embracefinancial]

I had a similar problem when I took my son in for emergency care and didn't go back to the car for 12 hours. The parking company did waive my fine in view of the circumstances. 

I understand that a number of drivers with blue badges (but may not be the actual holders) were using the hospital blue badge spaces frequently as a car park for Denmark Hill station, so the spaces were often full all day.

You're right - in Lambeth you can park in residents parking zones with blue badge, but not in Southwark (which has always seemed a bit strange to me). The streets on that side of Denmark Hill (the road) are Lambeth.

I thought that the one vehicle rule only applied to the electronic blue badge in Southwark. If you go with a different driver, you can take the physical blue badge and use it in their car - that's what we've done so far.

[trinidad]

4 hours ago, embracefinancial said:

I had a similar problem when I took my son in for emergency care and didn't go back to the car for 12 hours. The parking company did waive my fine in view of the circumstances. 

I understand that a number of drivers with blue badges (but may not be the actual holders) were using the hospital blue badge spaces frequently as a car park for Denmark Hill station, so the spaces were often full all day.

You're right - in Lambeth you can park in residents parking zones with blue badge, but not in Southwark (which has always seemed a bit strange to me). The streets on that side of Denmark Hill (the road) are Lambeth.

I thought that the one vehicle rule only applied to the electronic blue badge in Southwark. If you go with a different driver, you can take the physical blue badge and use it in their car - that's what we've done so far.

did you make an appeal to the parking company?

[first mate]

12 hours ago, embracefinancial said:

I had a similar problem when I took my son in for emergency care and didn't go back to the car for 12 hours. The parking company did waive my fine in view of the circumstances. 

I understand that a number of drivers with blue badges (but may not be the actual holders) were using the hospital blue badge spaces frequently as a car park for Denmark Hill station, so the spaces were often full all day.

You're right - in Lambeth you can park in residents parking zones with blue badge, but not in Southwark (which has always seemed a bit strange to me). The streets on that side of Denmark Hill (the road) are Lambeth.

I thought that the one vehicle rule only applied to the electronic blue badge in Southwark. If you go with a different driver, you can take the physical blue badge and use it in their car - that's what we've done so far.

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I hope what you say about the physical badge is true, it would not make sense to limit use to just one car.

How shocking that (more than likely) some other family members of Blue Badge holders are abusing the system unless the badges were fake? Their actions negatively affect people living with disability who might desperately need more than 4 hours parking at the hospital. 

[embracefinancial]

Yes, I appealed to the parking company. I explained that I'd arrived with my young son and there was no way I could return to the car within the time allowed, and was unable to leave him as it could have taken a long time to find another space. They didn't provide any comment apart from saying that the penalty had been cancelled.

I'm sure it's quite normal for disabled people without cars to have a blue badge and use it with any taxi, carer or other driver who is taking them somewhere. The one badge per car thing is only for the electronic system as the traffic wardens would have no other way of knowing whether a car was entitled to park in a disabled / yellow line zone. I changed the badge to a hire car for a couple of weeks. Southwark did this without question but it took 2-3 days to change each time.

It's a similar process for the Congestion Charge although it's online. You can add up to 2 cars per day to your blue badge account as long as they are both put on by midnight at the end of the day - allows for a different taxi there and back.

I've had a couple of penalty notices from Southwark for driving through the bus gate on the way home from Dulwich Park (which is permitted for Blue Badge holders using the electronic system) but they've cancelled these without question on appeal.