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NSW — The Iemma Government will crack down further on parking cheats who abuse the disability parking scheme, Roads Minister Eric Roozendaal announced today.

"The Mobility Parking Scheme is there to make life easier for people with disabilities - not for parking cheats who don't have a conscience," Mr Roozendaal said.

"Parking cheats need to get the message that we will not tolerate the abuse of a legitimate and important scheme for helping people with disabilities."

Under reforms to the Mobility Parking Scheme (MPS) announced today:

• Council rangers will be given on-the-spot powers to confiscate MPS cards which are being misused by parking cheats.
• A three-strikes-and-you're-out policy will be introduced for people caught misusing the scheme.
• Improving the MPS card application form to remind doctors of their obligations under the scheme and emphasise the importance of the scheme's integrity.

Mr Roozendaal said the Iemma Government had made major changes over the past two years and continued to refine the scheme to make life easier for people with disability.

"These latest reforms include stronger enforcement, a tiered system of revoking passes and changes to the administration of the medical aspects of the system," Mr Roozendaal said.

"On-road enforcement will be improved by changing the law to make it clear that council parking rangers may confiscate MPS cards and return them to the RTA in cases where the cards are being misused.

"The need for this law change came from operations conducted jointly by councils, NSW Police and the RTA which targeted the use of MPS cards."

Joint RTA, NSW Police and council crackdowns in the Sydney City, North Sydney and Parramatta areas saw more than 300 fines issued and 54 MPS cards cancelled by the RTA.

Chair of the Disability Council of NSW Andrew Buchanan welcomed the reforms.

He said: "I congratulate the Government on taking further action to address abuse of the Mobility Parking Scheme. We need a rigorous system of policing and penalty enforcement to bring abuse of designated parking to an end. The new powers for parking rangers are welcome and action against persistent offenders is to be applauded.

"We know that most drivers in NSW understand why people with disability need the MPS. It's the comparatively small number of cheats and fraudsters who need to be caught and stopped."

Mr Roozendaal said the RTA will also introduce a way to deter serial offenders whose cards are misused and revoked.

Under the new scheme, the first time a card is revoked for misuse the card holder will not be allowed to reapply for another card for three months.

"The second time the same offender has their card revoked for misuse, an application will not be allowed for 12 months and if the person commits a third offence, they will not be allowed to reapply," Mr Roozendaal said.