new blue badge application

**jocgo** · 12-03-17 10:15

Hi,

First post here, by new registrant, just discovered your site:

I realise there are many folks coping with very great difficulties and ours may seem trivial.

My wife is now all but immobilised by an undiagnosed hip condition over and above arthritis in both hips. To this moment she has had four consultations with two specialists, four x rays, pending a fifth, also bone scans and MRI. This condition has lasted over six months to date.

Because of unsuitable physiotherapy and delays in accessing GP we bought her own sticks and a folding wheel chair and as it became unsafe for her to negotiate the stairs safely we had a stair lift installed (what a godsend) at our own expense. Thankfully we could afford it and did not have to join the queues encountered at every stage in these days of budget cuts.

I was wondering about the criteria for obtaining a blue badge. My wife can walk 20 to 50 yards with one or two sticks, depending on the severity of the pain at the time, but cannot walk anywhere at all without a stick, only stagger and shuffle with the fear of falling if the hip affected ‘gives way’.

What I want some advice about is if it is worthwhile applying for a blue badge as she can walk the distance I’ve stated or is her degree of mobility likely to disqualify her?

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

**keithl** · 13-03-17 11:44

The rules for BB are different to those for PIP. 20-50 with aids, only on a good day, takes a lot longer than for an able bodied person, causes pain, can't do it again for xx hours, and risk of fall - all would make a good case.

You now apply initially online and then have an assessment at your local council office. Of course all councils are different, as are the personnel involved and possibly even their interpretation of the regulations. My wife applied in Essex with similar level of disability to your wife, and was successful. You only pay if successful