Blue badge holders should not pay airport drop-off fees, charity says

All British airports should stop invoice blue badges holders for being filed near the terminals, said a charity for handicap.

Several people with blue badges contacted the BBC after a new one that more than half of the busiest airports had increased the “kiss-and-voltages” costs to £ 7 in some cases.

Many airports already offer discounts or give up costs for disabled drivers, but blue badges holders say that the system is complex and inconsistent.

Graham Footer, director general of Disabled Motoring UK, said that some airports have “allowed greed to blur their judgment” and maintains that disabled people should not have to pay the accusation.

“Disabled customers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and not have stolen upon their arrival,” he said.

The BBC contacted the 20 most frequented airports in the United Kingdom to confirm their policy on deposit costs for blue badges holders.

London City does not charge deposit costs for no type of passenger.

Gatwick, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Heathrow, Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester all charge deposit costs, but the holders of blue badges do not have to pay it.

Luton, Glasgow, Belfast International, Belfast City, East Midlands, Aberdeen and Southampton are charging all the holders of blue badges like the other passengers to use the deposit areas closest to the airport. But they also all offer free parking specially for holders of blue badges elsewhere.

For Glasgow and Aberdeen, this car park is only free if the holders of blue badges are deposited by family or friends – not if they are deposited by taxi.

All airports offer free deposit options further from the terminals for all passengers – not just blue badges holders – such as “Park and Ride” facilities where people can leave their car and take a bus for the airport.

Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Bournemouth all charge for blue badge holders to take place, but allow them to stay longer than other passengers at lower prices.

Bristol invoices £ 7 for 40 minutes, Leeds Bradford invoices £ 7 for 60 minutes, and Bournemouth has £ 5 for four hours because he said that disabled passengers “could require more time”.

Only Cardiff, Newcastle and Stanstead charge the same costs without discounts.

Cardiff invoices £ 3 for 10 minutes, Newcastle invoice £ 5 for 10 minutes and Stanstead invoice £ 7 for 15 minutes.

Airports UK, which represents the industry, said the best accessible deposit for blue badge holders depends on the airport’s arrangement.

“No option is ideal in all airports, so to optimize access to each airport, the offer will necessarily be different,” he said.

He advised passengers to check the airport website before traveling to identify the best deposit location.

Most airports that renounce the deposit costs do so if a disabled driver shows his blue badge at the day airport.

However, for Heathrow and Liverpool, the exemption must be claimed online or on the phone before or after the trip. Heathrow says that his online process confirmed blue badges can take five days, although he told the BBC that he usually took 48 hours.

James Williams, 67, from London finds these services difficult to use.

“I am a blue badge holder and I have to pay because I am not literate by computer,” he said, arguing that “you have to jump through hoops to get this discount”.

Jonathan Cassar, 51, from London, says that the complex nature of online recording means that “people with disabilities who must be abandoned to the terminal cannot be spontaneous as others can”.

Heathrow said he had tried to make the recording process for the blue badge “as simple as possible” and advised anyone who needed any urgent recording to have it approved by phone.

Liverpool said he had introduced an online confirmation “to minimize the abuses of the blue badge system”.

Not all of blue badge holders feel charged with the airport drop is unfair.

Gordon Richardson, president of the British Polio Fellowship Board, is a blue badge holder but says that he is “not against the principle” of people with disabilities who pay the same thing as unabled people.

It says what is most important is that space is accessible and easy to use.

He urges holders of blue badges to contact airports before traveling so that airports can have staff ready to help them and make sure they get their discount or free parking.

Many airports contacted by the BBC have said that their blue badge policies had been written in consultation with disability groups and with particular consideration for their needs.