[Brydo]

Article

Prosecutions for misuse of a Blue Badge were up 17.9% in England last year; only 66% of councils have a policy to deal with the crime
Prosecutions for misuse of a Blue Badge went up by nearly a fifth last year, but only two-thirds of councils have a policy to deal with this type of fraud.

English councils carried out 1,432 prosecutions for fraudulent use of a Blue Badge between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019. This is 17.9 per cent more than were conducted in the same period in 2017/18.

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The figures, which came from an annual Government survey of all English councils, also reveal that the number of councils with a policy in place to deal with Blue Badge fraud has risen from 89 to 101 in the same period. However, this still accounts for just 66 per cent of English councils. Of those that do not have such a policy in place, 65 per cent are planning to implement one.

Of the 1,432 prosecutions, 99 per cent were made against non-badge holders who were accused of using someone else’s badge. Meanwhile, 983 (69 per cent) of the total were made in London, which is where the five English councils with the lowest proportion of Blue Badge holders by population can be found – these were Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of London.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sunderland has the highest proportion of Blue Badge holders by population of any English council, followed by North Lincolnshire, St Helens, Stockton-on-Tees and Staffordshire.

Edmund King, president of the AA, commented: “The one-fifth increase in fraudulent Blue Badge prosecutions from last year shows that more areas are finally starting to tackle the issue.

“However, it’s shocking that only two-thirds of councils have a policy to prosecute those who abuse the system by using another person’s badge.

“Councils without a policy must get their act together for the sake of the millions of Blue Badge holders who genuinely need them. Drivers must also show some more humanity and stop abusing the system.”

Back in June this year, the Government expanded the Blue Badge scheme so that those with hidden disabilities such as autism and mental health conditions would be eligible to apply. At the same time, a special taskforce was launched to help councils toughen up their enforcement of Blue Badge fraud – though these figures apply to the older version of the Blue Badge scheme.

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[Sharon]

I’m all for being tough on fraudsters of the blue badge.

[Brydo]

Me too Sharon its a disgrace.

The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.

[Winston]

I’m with this gang , before I had one I didn’t know too much about

would never dream of parking on a disabled space ( ever ) but worked with some people who used their parents blue badges to get out paying city centre parking charges and used their parents Motability cars to get there! , never really thought anything of it at the time

now I’m on the other side of the fence I realise how much of an impact it can have

i still think some genuine disabled drivers could be a little more sympathetic to others though , if I’m not too bad as there is only one disabled space left and plenty of empty regular ones near by I will park in one of them leaving the disabled space for maybe a wheelchair user or someone worse off than me

can’t enforce that or say someone needs it more obviously , just a case of being nice when you can

 

[Oscarmax]

The problem is it does not just stop at abuse and fraud of the blue badges.

Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.

[Dragonfly]

We once went to park in a disabled space but there was was a stretched limo parked, horizontally, across four bays.

Now that’s just being greedy needless to write that the driver had no blue badge.

[Author]

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