Parking for People with Disability

Ensuring people with disability have the same opportunities as other people to access buildings, other facilities and events is an objective shared by many public and non-public authorities.

Designated ACROD parking bays contribute to this objective and ensure people with disability have access to parking spaces that are reserved and designated for their needs.

An ACROD parking bay is a parking bay:

  • with specific proportions and characteristics that is identifiable as an ACROD/ accessible parking bay.
  • that can only be used by people that have an ACROD parking permit issued by National Disability Services.   

The role of local governments

Local governments play a vital role in ensuring ACROD parking bays are used for their intended purpose.

The Local Government (Parking for People with Disabilities) Regulations 2014 were introduced to:

  • regulate the designation and use of ACROD parking bays for people with a disability; and
  • impose penalties on people that illegally park in ACROD parking bays.

The penalties for illegally parking in an ACROD parking bay were recently increased from a maximum of:

  • $300 to $500 for fines; and  
  • $2000 to $5000 for court-imposed penalties.   

These new penalties came into effect on 25 April 2020.

Local government authorities enforce the Regulations in carparks that are in public places and/ or are operated by the local government. Local governments can enter into agreements with privately owned carparks to monitor the use of ACROD bays in the privately-owned carparks. More information on these arrangements is provided below.

Privately owned carparks

Many private property owners participate in the ACROD parking program and designate ACROD parking bays in their carparks.   

Privately owned carparks that have ACROD parking bays either:

  • privately contract someone to monitor use of the parking bays; or
  • enter into an agreement with their local government to monitor use of their parking bays.

While there are a number of existing agreements in place, there is scope for a significant increase in the number of agreements across the WA community to help deal with the issue of illegal parking and parking availability in ACROD bays.

Local governments making a difference

Many local governments facilitate disability access and inclusion in their community by working with private carpark owners to enter into agreements to monitor the use of ACROD parking bays. 

The following document details case studies of local governments that have successfully formed agreements with various private carpark owners:

 

The department has worked with the Town of Claremont to develop the following template agreement that can be used by local governments and private property owners:

More information

For information on applying for an ACROD Parking Permit. 

Page reviewed 22 September 2020
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