THE father of young man with Down's syndrome has received an apology and £250 compensation after his son was wrongly refused a blue badge to use disabled parking spaces.

Lancashire County Council agreed to the payment following an Ombudsman's ruling that the applicant should have been granted a face-to-face interview before the decision was made.

The son, whose medical condition causes him dizziness and loss of balance, was refused the blue badge by the company employed by the authority Able 2 Occupational Therapy Services in October last year without seeing him.

His father complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Dr Jane Martin that he should have been seen in person to assess properly his variable mobility and need to use disabled parking spaces so he could get in and out of his car doors.

She ruled in the father's favour and his son was reassessed with a face-to-face interview and granted the badge.

Dr Martin ordered the county council to apologise to the father and pay him £250 compensation for his time and trouble.

She ruled future applications for blue badges should take into account variable, hidden or non-physical disabilities.