British disability blue badges are no longer being recognised in major holiday destinations across Europe thanks to Brexit, the government has admitted.
Automatic recognition for Britain’s 2.4 million blue badge holders – a perk of EU membership – stopped across Europe on 31 December 2020 when the EU transition period ended.
Ministers promised to negotiate individual deals with EU countries to recognise British badges, but a year on they have still failed to do so for the most popular destinations.
Travellers with disabilities still face uncertainty and inconvenience in countries including France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal – all of which are still in talks with the UK government over the issue.
The countries are believed to be resistant to recognising British badges because it is difficult for local officials and parking wardens to verify the authenticity of non-EU badges, a problem EU badges do not have because they are of a common design and part of the same scheme.
More than 40 million UK visitors travelled to the missing countries in 2019 before the pandemic hit, accounting for nearly half of all visits abroad by British residents worldwide.
With international travel off the agenda for most people due to the Covid pandemic, the issue has so far slipped under the radar. But disability access campaigners said the government was in danger of letting disabled people down and making it harder for them to travel when normal service resumes.
The situation is so uncertain that ministers now recommend that anyone with mobility problems travelling abroad should check with the embassy of the country they are travelling to.
In a written answer to a parliamentary question seen by The Independent, Transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris said the government was continuing “to engage in discussions with a number of countries” about the issue.
But he declined to comment on the detail of the negotiations, beyond stating that the government “remains committed to confirming the status of UK issued Blue Badges for visiting motorists”.
Blue badges entitle people with mobility difficulties to use disabled parking spaces. When Britain left the EU, the design of the British badge was changed to remove the EU flag – but along with the redesign went the right for it to be automatically recognised.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said blue badge holders should now check with the embassy of their destination country before travelling to see what the local policy was. A full list of countries’ policies has also been published on GOV.UK.
When The Independent first approached the DfT about the issue, countries that had not said they would recognise the UK badge were marked under the heading “UK blue badge recognised” as “no”. However the page has since been updated and those countries have now been re-marked as “undecided”.
Other countries that have not said they will accept UK badges include Slovenia, Romania, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.
Fazilet Hadi, head of policy at Disability Rights UK, told The Independent: “For many disabled people, a car with a blue badge is the only option for being able to leave home. The Blue Badge enables visits to family and friends, trips to shops, restaurants and cinemas, and visits to the doctor or hospital.”
She said it was “essential that Government ensures that Blue Badges are recognised across Europe to ensure that disabled people enjoy the same opportunities to travel”.
Baroness Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson in the House of Lords, said: “It is deeply disappointing that the government appear to have let this issue drop down their agenda.
“Disabled people already face a huge wave of difficulties others do not when trying to travel, either for work or for a holiday and this is yet another barrier for them.”
Baroness Brinton, who herself uses a wheelchair, added: “By failing to secure a reciprocal deal on blue badge use, the Conservatives are letting disabled people down. The UK Government should renew their focus – reaching an agreement is clearly in everyone’s interest.”
Some British local authorities also refuse to accept non-UK blue badges from outside the EU. The reasoning given by one north London council is that “disabled badges from outside the EU vary in design and it is hard to verify their authenticity” – a concern at the heart of EU objections to recognising British badges.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “It has always been the case that disabled drivers should check the local rules in the country they are travelling in before using a disabled parking card abroad.
“Negotiations on Blue Badge recognition are ongoing between the UK and individual EU States, and motorists can always contact their embassy for advice or assistance if they need it.”
