Hartlepool Borough Council promises action to help town's blue badge motorists

Hartlepool Borough Council officers have said five of their 60 pay and display parking stations across the area have been identified as being in need of alterations to assist with disability access.

They also stressed at all sites payments can be made on mobile phones using RingGo, which removes the need to collect a payment ticket from a machine.

The update came to the latest meeting of the neighbourhood services committee after concerns were raised last year over parking arrangements for blue badge holders.

This followed a decision to bring in charges for blue badge holders parking in local authority car parks starting in April 2022.

Sylvia Pinkey, the council’s assistant director for regulatory services, assured steps are being taken to improve parking facilities for those with disabilities in Hartlepool.

She added: “There has to be sufficient ‘disabled friendly’ payment options in place to enable such users to comply with the requirements of the car park.

“The ongoing procurement programme will ensure that the replacement payment machines fully meet the requirements of the legislation and design standards required of this service.”

Officers noted a phased renewal of existing payment machines which are more than 10 years old was already planned.

They added a “rough estimate” for the work is six months.

Labour councillor Ben Clayton said: “I think really if we’re expecting blue badge holders to pay to park then we need to make it as convenient as possible and we should be putting machines near those blue badge bays.”