Cost of blue badge to rise

Blue Badge

Disabled drivers in Rochdale will be hit with a price hike for their Blue Badges in the new year - as fee rises from £2 to £10. 

Rochdale Council will implement the fee following a reform to the blue badge scheme, carried out by the Department for Transport.

Contract changes and a new national badge means each Blue Badge will cost £4.60 to print and process in future. The new badges, which will be valid for three years, are said to be harder to tamper with, copy or forge.

Previously £2 was the most councils could charge but in light of the changes the new maximum fee is £10.

Simon Bailey, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Rochdale Borough Council, said: "The charge will rise to £10 to cover the increased costs of issuing the new national badge.

“The scheme has changed from a local scheme where £2 was the maximum charge to a new national scheme where the maximum charge will be £10.

“Everyone has opted to impose the maximum charge due to the significant increase in costs in operating the new scheme." 

The average benefit for badge holders from having a badge (and not having to pay parking charges) is estimated to be £300 over the three years for which most badges are valid. 

The new charges come into force in January 2012.