Parking scan cars in Brussels still wrongly issuing fines to disabled drivers

Specially equipped vehicles that patrol Brussels streets and are supposed to be able to detect parking violations are still wrongfully fining drivers with disabled parking cards.

The equipment on the so-called "scan cars" seem to have difficulty detecting disabled badges, and people with disabilities are discovering fines in their mailboxes despite parking lawfully, Bruzz reports.

Parking.brussels first put the scan cars on the streets in Schaerbeek in 2020, despite the lack of a positive opinion from both the municipal council and the police zone – a fact that sparked some controversy at the time.

The cars use cameras with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology, but while the issue with this technology’s ability to detect disabled badges was brought up eight months ago - and parking.brussels was forced to pay penalty payments for the errors - the problem remains unsolved.

A Brussels court made a ruling in May 2022 that gave parking.brussels a four-month deadline to resolve the issue.

But while that deadline has passed, “there is still discrimination based on disability,” MP Céline Fremault (Les Engagés) told La Capitale newspaper.

Brussels mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) said a solution is being worked on.

“The implementation of the scan car is complex and does not yet meet all the challenges, especially those of people with disabilities,” Van den Brandt said.