A new online platform called handyPark has gone live across 18 Brussels municipalities, making it easier for disabled drivers to register their vehicles and park for free, while helping authorities crack down on an estimated 250,000 fake disability parking cards in circulation across Belgium.
The free system, launched on Monday by parking.brussels, Brulocalis, and their partners in Wallonia and Flanders, allows people with a valid European Disability Parking Card to register their car online or via an app, so parking inspectors can instantly verify their right to free parking during digital scans.
The move comes as camera-based parking checks become more common across the country. Registered vehicles will appear automatically on the communes’ exemption lists, preventing fines for legitimate users and easing administrative hassle.
"I'm pleased to see so many communes joining forces to make life easier for people with reduced mobility," said Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt to Bruxelles Today. "HandyPark will bring more flexibility and less paperwork. I’m counting on other communes in Brussels and beyond to join the project soon."
The platform also lets users temporarily change their registered licence plate, useful because the parking card is issued to a person, not a specific car.
HandyPark builds on the existing whitelist managed by parking.brussels, which already includes more than 21,500 people. Eventually, it will replace the regional system and become a national database, open to all participating Belgian communes.
Authorities hope the tool will help curb large-scale fraud involving fake or misused disability cards. In 2019, estimates suggested around 250,000 counterfeit or illegally used cards were circulating nationwide.
Even with the new system, drivers must still display the official disability card behind the windscreen, as required by the Highway Code.
Users can register via handypark.be or download the handyPark app from the App Store or Google Play.
