How to use your Blue Badge
The Blue Badge scheme helps disabled people to access goods and services by allowing them to park close to their destination.
The scheme is for eligible disabled people, including those with non-physical (hidden) disabilities, whether they are travelling as a driver or as a passenger.
The Department for Transport (DfT) sets the legal framework, but local authorities manage day-to-day operations. The Blue Badge Scheme is administered for residents of West Northamptonshire on behalf of, and in line with, the Department for Transport's regulations.
It is the responsibility of each local authority to ensure that badges are only issued to residents who satisfy one or more of the eligibility criteria set out in the legislation that governs the scheme.
Under no circumstances should anyone who does not satisfy at least one of the criteria receive a badge.
You can apply for a badge:
- for yourself
- on behalf of somebody else
- for an organisation that transports people that need a Blue Badge
Rules and how to use a Blue Badge
The Department of Transport has set out how badge holders should use the scheme in the Blue Badge scheme: rights and responsibilities in England.
Your responsibilities as a Blue Badge holder
You must use the Blue Badge properly. The badge and its concessions are for your use only.
It is a criminal offence for you or anyone else to misuse the badge. Doing so could lead to a £1,000 fine and confiscation of the badge. Making sure that the scheme is not abused will benefit genuine badge holders, such as yourself.
If you are using the parking concessions as a passenger, it is your responsibility to make sure that the driver is aware of all the rules set out in this guidance.
You must never give the badge to friends or family to allow them to have the benefit of the parking concessions. You must never use a copied badge to park or try to change the details on a badge.
The badge remains the property of the issuing local council. We can ask for the badge to be returned if it is being misused.
Your Blue Badge is linked to you rather than your vehicle. This means that any vehicle you are a passenger of can also use your Blue Badge. This includes hire cars and taxis.
Unless indicated otherwise, with your Blue Badge you can park:
- in disabled bays
- for free where there are on-street parking meters and pay and display bays
- on single or double yellow lines for up to 3 hours barring any loading restrictions
How to display your Blue Badge
Always display your Blue Badge when parking your vehicle. You must display the badge on the dashboard or facia panel, where it can be clearly read through the front windscreen.
If there is no dashboard or facia panel in your vehicle, you must display the badge in a place where it can be clearly read from outside the vehicle. The front of the badge should face upwards, showing the hologram.
If you need to use a parking clock, you must display it on the vehicle’s dashboard or facia panel, so that the time can be seen clearly through the front windscreen.
The clock should be set to show the quarter hour period during which you arrived.
If there is no dashboard or facia panel in your vehicle, you must still display the clock in a place where it can be clearly read from outside the vehicle.
Make sure your Blue Badge:
- has not expired
- is the right way up
- is clearly visible through your windscreen
- has the time you arrived set on the parking time clock (if parked somewhere with a time limit)
Last updated 17 July 2025