Hansard

I start by declaring an interest as a blue badge holder, as members will know I am from seeing me stagger into the chamber with my two sticks. I have a great interest in the subject.

As a blue badge holder and a fellow MSP, I add my congratulations to Dennis Robertson on introducing the bill. I, too, have suffered from some of the problems that have been described.

From the contributions that have been made and from the evidence, we know that the blue badge scheme needs to be reformed. That reform is definitely overdue. The evidence that was presented to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee showed an overwhelming sense of resentment among blue badge users about the lack of respect that the scheme is shown and the subsequent wide-scale abuse that goes on. Calls were made for greater awareness and investment in education, given the number of blue badges that are being misused unintentionally by family members, for example, as we have heard.

In his evidence, Grahame Lawson of the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland said that the number of people who take the time to read the booklet on their rights and responsibilities under the scheme is very small. We have touched on that. The booklet is a little complicated. It needs to be simplified and cut down, because people do not read such things.

The staggering scale of intentional and calculated fraud that goes on under the scheme points to a far greater problem, which the bill cannot fully address. The fundamental problem is that too many people do not understand—as I did not—how valuable the scheme is to those who have mobility problems and how much those with a disability are restricted and prevented from going about everyday tasks when they do not have access to designated disabled parking bays. If people understood what a lifeline those bays are, their attitude to the abuse that goes on would be very different. That is why I would welcome a bit more education, which is key.

The fact is that people know that using a disabled parking bay is wrong, but they also tend to think that it is okay to use one if they are running late for an appointment, as we heard from Dennis Robertson, or nipping into the supermarket for something. That is not okay, and we must make it clear to people why it is not okay. We must challenge the notion that it is somehow acceptable to abuse such schemes in the right circumstances.

We blue badge holders have a critical role in the drive for greater awareness. We should be aware of our rights and responsibilities, as the likes of Helen Dolphin from Disabled Motoring UK argued in her evidence. One of the biggest misunderstandings is about a friend or relative borrowing our blue badge to run an errand on our behalf. That is a definite misuse, although many people do not regard it as such. In theory, the badge is valid only when the badge holder is in the vehicle concerned. I am not sure whether the badge holder must be getting out of the vehicle; sometimes, I have been caught in that way.

Raising awareness and challenging false perceptions are an important part of tackling the problem. Improving enforcement is also a critical element, which has long been missing. That is the strength in Dennis Robertson’s bill. New laws are often passed when better enforcement of existing legislation would be just as—if not more—effective. The bill focuses on how we improve the workings of the blue badge scheme, and central to that is enforcement.

Most telling is the fact that many witnesses told the committee time and again that misuse rates are high—they are estimated to be between 52 and 70 per cent in Edinburgh—because those who commit the offence are confident that they will not be caught. Local authority officers’ contributions were interesting. There was broad agreement that blue badge fraud is in many cases viewed as a cheap alternative to car parking charges, although we heard that only 30 cases of common-law fraud were recorded in relation to blue badges. We must more readily prosecute those who abuse the system routinely and deter people who see abusing the scheme as an easy option.

I am a bit worried about the confiscation of badges. I make a particular point about that because confiscating a badge deprives somebody of it. It is crucial that confiscated badges are returned quickly to holders who are not guilty.

The new criminal offence that the bill proposes and the powers of confiscation are welcome, but that is not really an end to the process. It is obvious from our evidence gathering that there is work to be done on data sharing and the design of the badge.

I, too, support the bill.