People from Salford who own a blue badge they are not entitled to use can now hand them in no questions asked.
Salford councillor Robin Garrido tells us why the council have acted:
“Blue badge holders who should not be using a blue badge are denying spaces to people who genuinely should have a blue badge. They are denying somebody else from using that space that needs to be closer to either the doctors, chemists, food, or whatever. it may be that they have the blue badge for a relative, but they can only use that when a relative is with them”.
“There are quite a number of those people who may genuinely not realise that they shouldn’t be using it in those situations. And I think certainly those people, I’m sure, will take advantage of the amnesty. I don’t think it’s the fact that they’ve had difficulty getting one or being able to use one, it’s purely the fact that they are misusing the blue badges that they have. And that’s to the detriment of those people that need to use the blue badge”.
Andy Higgins from Salford Disability Forum welcomed the news.
He said: “you find that a lot of people who have blue badges complain that people are often parked in the spaces I know sometimes people park even if they don’t have a blue badge. The council probably should be stepping in more where the council is permitted but also private landowners for example somewhere like a supermarket should also be enforcing it as well because many rely on it . there’s cameras for entrance and exit for people overstaying an allotted time but rarely do they actually do anything”.
Following the amnesty period, from Monday November 11, Salford City Council will begin to clamp down on blue badge misuse by checking that permits across the city are correctly registered.
Blue badge misuse is a growing concern and is extremely hard to police, although they have power on the roads, the council have no power over private property such as supermarkets. According to a Salford councillor, the amount of people in Salford with a blue badge is up into the 4 figures.
People can report Blue Badge fraud at: https://www.salford.gov.uk/report-it/