Handicap Parking In Europe
I did the advanced search on Google and couldn't find this specifically addressed on here so I then did some searching elsewhere and thought I would post what I found out. Valid U.S. Disabled Parking Placards can be used in EU member countries (assuming you can find a disabled parking space). For folks like me who are travelling with a family member with mobility issues/disabilities, this is excellent information to have.
Nancy
Taylor, TX USA 9/8/09
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It is to be hoped that the parking police in the EU countries know about this. Could we have your source for this, please?
First Google search result for the term: usa disabled parking pass europe
Pete
http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/europe/ecmt/accessibility/parking.html
It may be wise to take a copy of this with you in case the local police are not up to speed on the agreement.
Exactly, and if you are in a non-English-speaking country let us hope the cop reads and understands English. I personally think you would be asking for trouble if you really expect your US handicap permit to work for you in, say, Paris or Vienna.
Not sure about the rest of Europe, but in the UK, generally disabled parking passes are used to park in places where you normally cannot park - roads are marked with yellow lines along the curb indicating when you can/cannot park and the pass allows you to ignore these restrictions. The passes are issued by local authorities and I am not sure if they are recognized outside of the issuing area.
Well, I just returned from Ireland. Prior to leaving, I emailed the Gardai Traffic division to confirm that we could use our placard in Ireland. I received a reply back in the affirmative that while it has no legal standing in Ireland, they will honor placards from the U.S. As for hoping for a cop who can read English, it isn't that difficult to get things translated into the language of the country you will be visiting or you can do as I did and make advance contact with the head of the appropriate division and ask that if they reply in the affirmative, to please provide you with that confirmation in the local language so that you can display it with your placard if you are worried that a local cop won't be up on the regulations. That being said, we used my father's placard on three occasions in Ireland with no problems.
I contacted the automobile associations of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in pursuit of this question, with the following results:
The Belgian response was "Knowing that the logo signaling an handicaped person is exactly the same as in Europe, you only need to highlight it under your windshield to fully enjoy the avantages and places marked out for handicaped persons."
The Dutch response told me how to apply for a placard recognized by all EU countries. I sent (by regular air mail) a copy of the drivers license, the passport photo page, and a photocopy of the placard my state issued to:
CBR
Divisie Rijgeschiktheid
To mr. C. Susana
P.O. Box 3012
2280 GA Rijswijk ZH
The Netherlands
About a month later I received a placard!
The cover letter and a brochure was all in Dutch, so I did some Google translating to learn that the different countries do have slightly different regulations about whether this placard entitles us to ignore parking time limits, but that's OK, we'll just try to read the signs and plan to obey them.
No response from the French
This thread is from 2009. Probably issues asked them have been resolved.