Cambridgeshire County Council pays woman £250 after blue badge error

The woman gave the council a letter from her GP and a patient summary record

A council will pay a woman £250 after it refused to give her a blue badge in error.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) told Cambridgeshire County Council to give compensation and apologise for the distress it caused.

The woman had wanted to renew her badge but her application was refused and her appeal was dismissed by the authority.

A complaint was lodged with the LGO and the council said it accepted the Ombudsman's ruling.

The county council accepted the Ombudsman's findings and apologised "to the complainant for the administrative error"

The woman, referred to as Ms X, was given a blue badge in 2020, but was refused a renewal in 2023.

Ms X appealed the decision and told the authority her condition had not improved since 2020, and she had been diagnosed with additional mental health issues.

In the appeal, she provided more information including a letter from her GP and a patient summary record.

'Unnecessary stress'

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council dismissed the appeal because there was "insufficient evidence of psychological distress in the context of walking or undertaking a journey".

After a complaint was lodged the council admitted there had been an error in the consideration of the appeal and agreed to renew her blue badge.

The Ombudsman recognised the council then provided a blue badge, but said the action was not enough.

It said: "Ms X was without a badge for around three months causing her unnecessary stress.

"She also put in time and trouble pursuing her complaint with the council and this office, again causing her unnecessary stress, a further remedy is required."

The county council accepted the Ombudsman's findings and apologised "to the complainant for the administrative error".

A spokesperson said: "We renewed the blue badge as soon as we were aware a mistake had been made.

"We receive more than 15,000 blue badge applications each year. Incidents such as this are rare but we have taken on board any lessons learned to minimise the risk of anything similar happening again."