Disabled Person's Parking Permit Misapplied
A Disabled Person's Parking Permit gives you specific rights under the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997, and it is worth knowing exactly which, because the common belief is wider than the regulations. What the regulations give you: a vehicle displaying a valid permit may park in a disabled bay marked with sign RRM 015, which is otherwise a no-stopping bay (article 44(2)); and the re-parking restriction in article 37(2)(b) does not apply to you (article 43(3)). What the regulations do NOT give you is a national exemption from pay-and-display charges or from time limits. Those concessions exist in many places but they come from the individual local authority's parking bye-laws, and they differ between authorities — so check the bye-laws for the council that issued your ticket rather than assuming. Permits are granted by a local authority or by one of the bodies listed in the Third Schedule to the regulations, which is wider than the two disability organisations people usually name. The European Parking Card is recognised on a reciprocal basis.
Legal basis
Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997 (S.I. No. 182 of 1997). Article 43(1) defines a disabled person as one "suffering from a disability that prevents that person from walking or causes undue hardship to the person in walking". Article 43(2)(a): "A disabled person's parking permit may be granted by a local authority or by any of the bodies listed in the Third Schedule." Article 43(3): "Article 37(2)(b) shall not apply to a vehicle in which a disabled person's parking permit is displayed" — that is, the restriction on re-parking, not a general exemption from time limits. Article 44(1) prohibits stopping or parking where traffic sign RRM 015 [Disabled Persons Parking Bay] is provided, and article 44(2) disapplies that prohibition for "a vehicle in which is displayed a disabled person's parking permit and which is parked for the convenience of the person to whom the permit was granted". NOTE: exemption from pay-and-display charges or from time limits is NOT conferred by these regulations; where it exists it is conferred by the local authority's own parking bye-laws and varies between authorities. Council Recommendation 98/376/EC governs mutual recognition of the European Parking Card.
How to identify this in your case
A valid Disabled Person's Parking Permit was displayed when the notice was issued. Check what the notice is actually for, because the regulations give less than is commonly believed. For a disabled bay, article 44(2) is a direct answer. For re-parking in the same place, article 43(3) is. For a time limit or non-payment in a pay-and-display area, the 1997 Regulations give you nothing — any concession comes from the individual council's parking bye-laws and differs between councils, so ask that council what its bye-laws provide rather than asserting a national exemption.
Sample appeal wording
Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.
To: [Issuing Authority] Re: FCN [NUMBER] The vehicle displayed a valid Disabled Person's Parking Permit at the time of the fixed charge notice. - Permit holder: [NAME] - Permit number: [NUMBER] - Issuing body: [local authority / body listed in the Third Schedule / EU member state] - Expiry: [DATE] - Photograph of the permit as displayed: ENCLOSED [IF THE NOTICE IS FOR PARKING IN A DISABLED BAY:] Article 44(2) of the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) Regulations 1997 provides that the prohibition on stopping or parking where traffic sign RRM 015 is provided "shall not apply to a vehicle in which is displayed a disabled person's parking permit and which is parked for the convenience of the person to whom the permit was granted". That is the case here. [IF THE NOTICE IS FOR RE-PARKING IN THE SAME PLACE:] Article 43(3) provides that article 37(2)(b) does not apply to a vehicle displaying a disabled person's parking permit. [IF THE NOTICE IS FOR EXCEEDING A TIME LIMIT OR FOR NON-PAYMENT:] I understand that the 1997 Regulations do not themselves exempt permit holders from time limits or from payment, and that any such concession is contained in the Authority's own parking bye-laws. I ask the Authority to confirm what concession its bye-laws make for permit holders at this location, and to consider this notice in that light. The European Parking Card is recognised on a reciprocal basis under Council Recommendation 98/376/EC. Yours faithfully, [NAME]
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