New petition demands 100-year-olds get automatic Blue Badges
Jane Keane has set up a petition - Credit: Jane Keane
A Gidea Park activist hopes to get 10,000 people to back her idea about centenarians automatically qualifying for the Blue Badge scheme.
Jane Keane says people who reach 100 should be celebrated and awarded, not forced to justify why the Blue Badge is needed.
During lockdown, the 56-year-old became an unpaid carer to an 100-year-old woman who she now calls her “very special friend”.
Jane helped the lady, who she describes as “terribly independent and private”, to apply for her Blue Badge through a process she deemed “demeaning to proud and independent people”.
A Blue Badge gives holders, or their drivers, exemption from some parking restrictions and access to designated parking spaces.
Some people already automatically qualify for the badge, for example if they are registered as blind or receive War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement.
In 2019, the government extended the blue badge eligibility criteria to people with non-visible disabilities.
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Jane, who is a prospective candidate in the May elections, said: “I would love the petition to go to Parliament so that people have to have a conversation about the reality of people making 100, and not having their needs recognised.”
View the petition at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/613602.
