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Disabled parking provisions and abuse in the UK

Local councils have issued almost £6 million in fines for those who abuse disabled parking spaces and drop kerb provisions.

Use the menu to see which regions have the best provisions for disabled drivers and which have raised the most in fines.

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No. of disabled parking spaces

There are more than 42,000 council-owned spaces for disabled drivers in the UK. Somerset is the local authority with the most, with 6728 disabled spaces available.

East Midlands

1,129

East of England

4,173

London

3,248

North East

782

North West

3,125

Northern Ireland

2,227

Scotland

4,518

South East

5,489

South West

12,545

Wales

1,390

West Midlands

1,852

Yorkshire and the Humber

1,874
00 3,250k3,250k 6,500.5k6,500.5k 9,75010k9,75010k 13,000k13,000k

Fines raised for disabled parking abuse

Parking in a disabled space without displaying a Blue Badge will land you with a Penalty Charge Notice. In 2017, over £4.2 million was raised in fines from those who abuse these spaces. Cardiff has raised the most in fines with nearly £204,000 issued to offenders.

East Midlands

£386,744.00

East of England

£278,164.65

London

£315,051.27

North East

£194,902.50

North West

£422,965.00

Northern Ireland

£2,070.00

Scotland

£175,490.00

South East

£838,532.63

South West

£546,355.78

Wales

£263,686.89

West Midlands

£421,655.92

Yorkshire and the Humber

£399,330.27
00 £225,000k£225,000k £450,000k£450,000k £675,000k£675,000k £900,000k£900,000k

Fines raised for drop kerb abuse

Parking on a lowered kerb could also land you with a fine. In 2017, £1.7 million was issues in fines to drivers who were caught doing this. Once again, Cardiff has raised the most in fines, with almost £291,000 issued.

East Midlands

£58,833.00

East of England

£257,677.52

London

£460,071.22

North East

£18,967.00

North West

£160,905.00

Northern Ireland

No data available

Scotland

No data available

South East

£120,996.00

South West

£117,011.46

Wales

£313,936.34

West Midlands

£69,011.05

Yorkshire and the Humber

£132,270.00
00 £125,000k£125,000k £250,000k£250,000k £375,000k£375,000k £500,000k£500,000k

No. of Blue Badge holders

There are currently more than 1.2 million Blue Badge holders in the UK. With 52,820 individuals, Derbyshire is the local authority with the highest number of Blue Badge holders.

East Midlands

131,856

East of England

86,426

London

29,724

North East

56,751

North West

187,851

Northern Ireland

No data available

Scotland

94,594

South East

129,455

South West

69,371

Wales

90,067

West Midlands

165,508

Yorkshire and the Humber

170,422
00 50,000k50,000k 100,000k100,000k 150,000k150,000k 200,000k200,000k

No. of Blue Badge holders per parking space

Based on the number of Blue Badge holders and the number of parking spaces, you can see how many disabled drivers have to share a parking space in each area. The counties displayed here are those that were able to provide information on both parking spaces and Blue Badge holders.

Merseyside

490

Northamptonshire

447

Suffolk

446

North Yorkshire

366

Staffordshire

217

Greater Manchester

197

Worcestershire

177

Derbyshire

146

West Sussex

125

South Yorkshire

124

Wrexham

120

Tyne and Wear

104

West Midlands

95

Torfaen

86

Surrey

59

Wiltshire

58

Cambridgeshire

57

Shropshire

55

West Yorkshire

48

Gloucestershire

39

Warwickshire

38

Bedfordshire

38

Oxfordshire

34

Rutland

28

County Durham

18

Berkshire

17

Cheshire

14

West Lothian

10

Argyll and Bute

10

Essex

9

Greater London

9

Aberdeenshire

9

Scottish Borders

8

Shetland Islands

7

Cardiff

7

Lancashire

6

Hampshire

6

Somerset

4
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Methadology

Freedom of Information requests were sent to all UK local authorities, asking for the number of disabled parking spaces, the number and amount of fines issued to drivers who wrongfully park in said spaces, the number and amount of fines issues to drivers who wrongfully park in front of a drop kerb, and the number of Blue Badge holders. Of the 433 local authorities, 200 replied with information.

The figure 'Blue Badge holders per parking space' was calculated by dividing the number of Blue Badge holders in a county by the number of disabled parking spaces in the same county.

Note that the number of disabled parking spaces does not include privately-owned structures such as supermarkets and private car parks.