Blue Badge stolen and we are being screwed by the systems designed to support disabled people
- By Brian Leveson
- •
- 17 May, 2022
- •
The systems that are supposed to support disabled people have really screwed us over.
We need a wheelchair accessible vehicle for our paraplegic child
With the exception of those saints of the road, the London Black Cab Taxi's, public transport is wholly inaccessible to us - we have equipment, oxygen and a paraplegic child in a seating system that is designed to hold him in place. So we need a wheelchair accessible vehicle.
The car died
Last year on out trip up to Berwick the car died. We really struggled without a car. The local taxi providers only had 3 wheelchair accessible vehicles and they were booked out to the council on Tuesdays and Thursday.
Summer is coming now, lock down has ended, and we wanted to get further than inside the M25 (although we did take a black up to Birmingham).
Summer is coming now, lock down has ended, and we wanted to get further than inside the M25 (although we did take a black up to Birmingham).
Eligibility for Motorbility is 12 months left on your 'award'
To be eligible to join the Motability Scheme, you need to receive one of the following mobility allowances and you must have at least 12 months’ award length remaining. Please note that the Attendance Allowance cannot be used to lease a car through the Scheme.
- Enhanced Rate Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment (ERMC PIP)
As of 11 April 2022, this allowance is £64.50 per week.
- Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance (HRMC DLA)
As of 13 April 2022, this allowance is £64.50 per week.
- Higher Rate Mobility Component of Child Disability Payment (Scotland)
As of 11 April 2022, this allowance is £64.50 per week.
- War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement (WPMS)
As of 13 April 2022, this allowance is £72.00 per week.
- Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP)
As of 13 April 2022, the mobility element of the allowance is £64.50 per week.
It took 46 weeks to process our transfer from DLA to PIP
Paper work for transferring from the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) arrived late in 2020. But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) kept moving the date they wanted the paperwork to August 2021 - 6 months after our son turned 16.
We had our PIP confirmed between Christmas and New Year 2021.
We had our PIP confirmed between Christmas and New Year 2021.
For just under 2 years we could not get a Motorbility vehicle
This meant that despite the car dying and the need for motorised transport and the permanency of our sons condition, there were almost 2 years were we could not ally for a Motorbility wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV).
Motorbility - 18 month delivery
We had a Motorbility provider round to do a demo. For a wheelchair accessible vehicle it would take 12 - 18 months to deliver after ordering - Brexit, war in Ukraine and the pandemic ... ok, ok, I get it...
3 and a half years in total waiting to renew a car was simply not feasible - We looked for an affordable alternative
We bought an import car that was converted to be a wheelchair accessible and 10 days ago brought it home.
1 hour in the dedicated bay and the officers of Haringey are there to give us a ticket.
Now, we had written ahead of time and told them the day we would be getting the new car - but they did not reply.
The officer was clear - you cannot park there (it's our dedicated bay), because that car is not registered to that blue badge.
We moved the car to a disabled bay and put in the blue badge.
We sent them the documentation, but Haringey said it was an invoice and not proof of ownership.
We are still waiting on DVLA to send us the V5 (its been 2 weeks now).
The officer was clear - you cannot park there (it's our dedicated bay), because that car is not registered to that blue badge.
We moved the car to a disabled bay and put in the blue badge.
We sent them the documentation, but Haringey said it was an invoice and not proof of ownership.
We are still waiting on DVLA to send us the V5 (its been 2 weeks now).
We parked in the Blue Badge Bay
So, we parked in the nearest undedicated disabled parking bay.
Some b*stard knicked the badge
Last night, some b*stard knicked the badge
... and now we have to wait 2 days for a crime reference number from the police
I registered the crime online at 6:45 am - but I have to wait 48 hours for a crime reference number
Haringey need the crime reference number to replace the badge
The incident number, the hole in the window and the loss of the badge mean are not enough evidence ...
When DVLA get round to sending us the V5 we can then register the vehicle as being for the use of a disabled person
We need to V5 back from Swansea to register the vehicle as being adapted for use by disabled people
We are being f*cked over by 4 systems to support disabled people
- Dedicated parking - need the V5 (delayed at DVLA and the paperwork not good enough for Haringey).
- Once DVLA the V5 we then have to go to a post office in person and register it for 'disabled car tax'.
- We are then exempt for ULEZ.
- We are then exempt from congestion charge.
Completely fucked over with additional costs and threats of getting the parking fines and getting the car sent to the Haringey car pound - all because the systems designed to support disabled people are really designed to stop fraudulent use and therefore screw over disabled people.
For clarity - Councillor Seema has done everything she could to help us here.
If you thought SEND was bad - the NHS is seemingly prepared to throw away money to private companies
About 3 or 4 times a year we get the euphemistic message 'Parents please note we have put a letter in your child's bag' - its a world away from how a child's death was handled in my child's first school
More of a trial by ordeal than a well organised clearly set out administrative process for moving the care of vulnerable young adults from Haringey's Children's Services to Adult Services. We have been failed at every stage of the process.
Never EVER get on the bus without a camera running if you need the priority wheelchair space
The reality of using a London Bus in the teeming rain on a Sunday afternoon is no joke when the parents of a paraplegic person in a wheelchair clash with the self-entitled buggy-pushing parents of toddlers.
At 3pm today I received some barefaced lies from Haringey Council Adult Social Care in response to a photograph I published online yesterday and the media interest it generated
Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.
I am simply asking a question - are we all absolutely certain that the road closure / travel restrictions (commonly know as LTNs) placed on some of the most severely disabled people who are wholly reliant on cars are absolutely necessary
Haringey's road closures exemptions policy for disabled people is not fit for purpose, unduly burdensome and intrusive - it's time to stand up against the pro-LTN lycra-clad cycling bullies
Is the argument for and against exemptions for disabled people in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods really a case of GOOD versus EVIL?
