08/04/13….Lame pensioner’s Blue Badge disappointment

DEAR Editor, Further to my letter of March 22, LINK in which I spoke of my relief at being told my appeal for a Blue Badge had been granted, I learned today, only because I rang up to enquire when it would arrive, that it had NOT been granted after all. I wonder if anyone would have ever told me. Apparently it was a mistake. Some mistake, some very serious disappointment ? and for some maybe, who are at my stage in life, potentially injurious, I would have thought.

I had been told to allow 15 working days for delivery of the Badge. Today, the 14th day, I rang up to check that it was on its way and was then told by Oxon County Council that their records said my appeal had been REFUSED.

Not according to the letter I received, I pointed out; it said they were ‘pleased to inform me’ that they could now issue the Badge. Their letter was on my desk as I spoke.

‘We can only apologise for the mistake’, I was told. If this was a mistake it was disgustingly casually made, and reported to me with virtual insouciance. My wife and I had made plans for very simple shopping trips based on the promise of this badge.

The effect of the news is devastating, literally dis-appointing. I am increasingly lame, in constant pain, face the prospect of one, maybe two knee operations, and am 77 years old.

I said in my letter to you of March 22 that I had received a fair hearing, and so I did. I also said that if the decision had gone against me I would have accepted it. I would NOT have agreed with it, however. But in these circumstances I do not accept and shall fight it.

My application was genuine, as is my need. I shall take this a lot further.

Yours sincerely,
Norman Brand,
Thame