Plan to create EU disabled driver ID card

Date: 18/04/1996

DISABLED drivers will be able to use parking facilities in other Union countries without the fear of incurring the wrath of police or traffic wardens under plans being examined by the European Parliament.

British Socialist MEP Tom Megahy, who is himself partially disabled from polio which he suffered as a youth, is urging the Parliament to approve a parallel system of European and national cards.

“I do not want to see a European card replace national versions. There would be a lot of reaction from member states if they were to be told to scrap their existing schemes. In my view, it makes sense to have a mutually-accepted European card side by side with national ones,” explained Megahy.

The advantage of such an approach, in his view, is that disabled drivers would only require the European card if they went abroad and traffic wardens would need to recognise just two types of permit.

“I want to make it clear we do not wish to abolish the existing system. We want to make the present system more efficient than it is just now and avoid situations where disabled drivers are clamped or towed away when in another EU country,” he said.

The Socialist MEP is equally insistent that the card should be associated with an individual and not a particular vehicle, so that it may be used when a disabled person is driven by a friend or rents a car.

He accepts that the cards should bear the holder's photograph on the inside, but will argue that addresses should not be included for security reasons.