Parking badges for disabled and blind people are issued by your local council's Social Services Department. You should contact them for an application form which they will send you.

The form is quite simple to complete.

It will ask if your wife receives Mobility Allowance or the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance or if she is registered as blind. If the answer to any of these questions is yes then a badge will automatically be issued.

If the answer is no to all these then there will be a few short questions to fill in about your wife's illness and her walking ability. These will then be assessed by the Social Services Department and they may either issue a badge directly or might ask your wife to attend a medical examination before making a decision.

There is a charge, which is currently £2 for the badge.

Incidentally for many years these have been known as 'orange parking badges' but they have recently changed to a new European design and are now coloured blue.