Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone calls for action for those parking in disabled bays without blue badges
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ACTION is needed to target irresponsible motorists who use disabled parking bays without blue badges, a Ross MP believes.
Jamie Stone, who represents Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, made the call at Westminster – citing his family's own experiences with the system.
He believes more needs to be done to ensure that those with disabilities are not prevented from using disabled parking spaces because of the behaviour of drivers without the badges.
Speaking in the chamber Mr Stone said: “My wife is disabled, and nothing is a bigger pain that to run my wife to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and find that all the parking spaces are taken or worse still that people have taken the spaces and don’t have the badge.
“Can I ask the government to ensure that people who abuse this system are sorted out and brought to account as quickly as possible?”
Responding the Minister of State for Transport, Michael Ellis said: “The fraudulent use of blue badges is a criminal matter and can be dealt with accordingly as one would expect.
“As for those who park in disabled parking spaces when they are not permitted to do so, those are infractions that ought to be dealt with by the supervisory authority by a way of fines.”
Commenting after the exchange Mr Stone said: “I am pleased that the Minister agrees with me that this is a problem which needs to be addressed. People with disabilities, including those with hidden disabilities, who have been granted a Blue Badge must be confident there will be spaces available for them to park in.
“The Blue Badge scheme is vital to many people’s independence and people must be aware of the penalties in place for using a disabled parking space when they are not permitted to do so.”
