Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on disabled drivers of levels of recognition of UK Blue Badges across EU member states.

The Blue Badge scheme in the UK is administered and enforced by local authorities and applies to on-street parking locations only. While the UK has informal reciprocal arrangements with EU Member States, acceptance of any non-UK badge is ultimately a matter for local authority discretion.

The UK is a member of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport Resolution ECMT Resolution 97/4 and has accepted Resolution 97/4, but this is not mandatory, nor is it reflected in UK domestic legislation.

The UK continues to recognise disabled parking cards issued in individual EU/EEA Nations for people visiting and travelling in the UK. Any confirmation of reciprocity of this goodwill gesture is not legally binding. It is for individual EU Member States to decide if they will recognise a Disabled Parking Card issued in another country. Using a Blue Badge in Europe - GOV.UK

The Department for Transport has ongoing discussions with individual countries regarding continued recognition of the UK Blue Badge across the European Union (EU).

Through close working and partnership with our French and Spanish friends and allies, this Government has now secured the mutual recognition with France regarding each other’s disabled parking permits and are now currently working on the final agreement with Spain. This means that UK Blue Badge holders can now travel with confidence when heading to France for their holidays or travel and this will also apply to Spain in due course.