Using an EU Blue Badge in Germany

Hi

My parents are coming to Germany next month with my little sister who's disabled. Therefore they have a blue badge for parking.

I was just wondering if anyone knew the rules and reguations of using it in Germany, and where people are allowed to park with it. Also, can people park for free with it in Germany, like in the UK at pay and displays?

Help is mucho aprreciated.

Kate

The blue badges are valid EU wide but the regulations differ from council area to council area.
I'd have a scoot round your local councils website.

If she's so handicapped that she's in a wheelchair, and the blue badge you've got is the one with a wheelchair on it, then (obviously) you can use the handicapped parking places, marked with a wheel chair. In addition you can usually park in places that you would not normally be allowed to, but exactly where varies from town to town, so you need to inquire locally about this.

If the handicap is the equivalent of what the German's call "Schwerbehindert", but doesn't put you in a wheelchair, then you aren't allowed to park in the parking places reserved for wheelchair users and in the larger towns you may get towed away and that can get very expensive. On the other hand you can usually exceed the time limits on parking with impunity, although I'm not sure what the situation is when you have to pay. Once again, all this is locally organised, ask at the local town hall.

Errrrrm I thought the blue badges though had ONE category Europe wide?
My mum uses a wheelchair and had one, my brother who doesn't also has one.

I don't actually know anything about the European pass, just the German ones. My wife is 70% "schwerbehindert", so I found out the hard way about the reserved parking places!

Sounds like this might be worth a Google or Wiki search to see if there is more info on the European pass.

It's worth bearing in mind that all the details on this are regulated at local level and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the local Politessen haven't a clue what the European pass covers. If you then get back to find the car has been towed, you might have trouble getting your money back afterwards.

Edit: It looks like the European pass is the one with the wheelchair, so that clears that question up.

Entering "Europäische Schwerbehindertenparkausweis" in Google pulls up a list of the regulations for a whole host of towns, including Hannover, though it looks like you'll need to dig around the web-site a bit to find anything useful.

They are EU wide and a UK one can be used here in Germany. My Step-mum has one and we used it when she was here.

We once had a disabled, wheelchair-bound visitor from the UK with a - then - orange badge depicting a wheelchair, we parked in a disabled space, time limit two hours. On returning 1:44h later there was a ticket for DM 75 on the windshield but the car had not been towed. I called the police asking for an explanation.

The guy said that any car illegally parked on a disabled space is immediately towed, and the orange badge did not conform to German/Munich standards so it was illegally parked. He started hemming and hawing when I pointed out that if the badge is not recognized then the car was parked illegally and should have been towed. The fact that it wasn't towed proves therefore that it was not illegally parked and should not have been ticketed.

Long story short: I sent them a written statement with a copy of the badge and never heard from them again.

Last year my Ma had a - red - temporary disabled badge due to the after effects of a knee replacement. I parked in disabled spaces all the time when we were out and about and never had any problems.

However, I strongly recommend keeping a copy of the badge on you at all times. Because if the car is towed with the badge inside it the police will hardly listen to your explanations, they want good hard proof. It might even be worth your while getting a copy of it now and submitting it to your municipal authorities for authorization. Ask as well about a temporary local badge to supplement the UK one.

Sara has some good advice, but the whole POINT of the EU blue badge is that you SHOULDN'T have to worry.
Obviously I don't want my disabled family memembers, friends or anyone else to have the hassles.
But on the other hand I would relish a council in Germany getting sued becasue its traffic wardens refused to recognise a valid badge that was "foreign".

@ MT - Believe me, I was licking my chops in anticipation because Val would have been flown in from the UK or Spain and as she's disabled Rob would have had to accompany her, all on govt costs. And the story would have been leaked to the press beforehand. I bet the traffic warden got sacked or at least relegated to desk duty.

Correct. You only get the blue badge here if you are above a certain percentage disabled however, as far as I recall, you can park in parking meter spaces without paying. Some people try to get away with it by putting their passes in the window but the police take a dim view of that. I'm only 65% but id does have a very good benefit. I can either pay only a 1/4 of my road tax for the car per year or for €60 I get a public transport pass which entitles me to use any public transport in our area (RMV) and also in large cities. You can guess which option I took as it practically pays for itself in a month plus I can tell old grannies to get out of my seat

Thanks for your help. My sister has Downs Syndrome but she doesn't use a wheelchair. She is disabled, theres no two ways about it. Is DS treated as Schwerbehindert in Germany?

Does anyone know specifically Rules and Reg's in Berlin?

Also, for getting into places as Ermassigung... how easy is that when someone is disabled?

Kate

edit:

Just found this...

Parkkarte für Personen mit Behinderungen.

Die Person, die diese Parkkarte

auslegt hat, ist ein

behinderter Besucher aus einem

anderen europäischen Land und zu

den selben Parkvergünstigungen

wie ein behinderter Einwohner

Ihres Landes berechtigt.

EU-MODELL

Do you think that'd be helpful to print out to put on the dashboard, or is it not necessary?

The problem arises because Germany differentiates between people handicapped in such a way that they need to use a wheelchair and those who don't. Only in the former case will you be issued with the blue pass with the wheelchair symbol, in Germany.

However, since the European pass takes this form, the fact that your sister is not in a wheelchair is irrelevant - the blue pass is the be all and end all! Typically German actually, rules and regulations are all that matter, common sense is totally irrelevant. It just makes a pleasant change, that this time it works in your favour!

Edit: Re. the description, shouldn't really be necessary to display it, but there again it can't hurt.

Read this if you understand German ...

She'll need to show her disabled pass (I think you get a small green card in the UK, it was a long time ago.) I used my German one at the Natural History museum in London some time back (when you had to pay) and no-one really took a second glance but you can bet your bottom dollar here that a German will (especially if like me you don't look disabled.)

My mum has been visiting us for years now and using her blue badge wherever we go. Never had a problem once.

Thanks. This sentence made me laugh though - außergewöhnlicher Gehbehinderung


I don't know if she has one of those.She's obviously got Downs Syndrome for heavens sake! I'll ask me mum.

Thanks.