Reader question: I live in the UK and have a disabled person’s blue badge in my car. Will this be valid for use in disabled parking spaces in France?
There have been many changes to daily life in France for UK residents since 2021. One still to be resolved issue surrounds the use of UK blue badges for disabled drivers in France.
Unfortunately, this is a subject where there is no definitive answer.
Certain states in Europe, such as Germany, have continued to recognise blue badges from the UK and the UK has continued to recognise disabled parking badges issued by EU countries.
Other EU countries, such as France, Spain, and Greece are apparently undecided on the matter.
The UK government previously told The Connexion it is lobbying France in relation to this, however so far nothing specific is reported to have come of this.
In principle then, this is the same as a ‘no’, with the former rights blue badge holders had in France no longer guaranteed to be recognised.
This has been the case since the end of the Brexit transition period as of January 1, 2021.
At present there is no change on the information provided on French or UK government websites about the status of blue badge holders.
The official UK government website recommends checking with the French Embassy for the latest information.
However The Connexion understands that to date nothing has changed on a national level, though it is possible that local areas could take differing views. It may therefore be worth checking with the mairie of the place/s you plan to visit as to local policies (details such as phone numbers and/or emails can be found with an internet search).
We note that the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile guide for disabled motorists states that disabled badges from outside the EU/EEA are not valid in France.
We asked our readers if they had any recent experiences using a UK blue badge in France and two responded, both saying they had not received any issues with parking in France.
If you are a resident in France, you can read our article here on how to get a French disabled parking badge.
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