Disabled badge parking cheats face new crackdown in Birmingham City Centre
Dec 10 2009 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail
“CHEAP and lazy” blue badge cheats looking to pocket parking charges by pretending to be disabled are being targeted in a new crackdown.
City chiefs now want to put the brakes on disabled badge fraudsters taking thousands of pounds from city coffers and blocking spaces for genuine disabled drivers.
Almost 100 phonies have already been hauled before the courts this year and slapped with fines of up to £700 and scores fined.
Now Birmingham City Council has launched its ‘Respect the Badge’ campaign to highlight the problem of able-bodied people pretending to be the blue badge holder.
Research suggests 90 per cent of blue badge abuse is committed by family members using a relative’s permit simply to dodge paying for parking in the city. But officers have warned genuine permit holders they could be stripped of their badges if they allowed friends or relatives to misuse them.
Insp Clive Isherwood, West Midlands Police Force Traffic Manager, said: “While many may see blue badge abuse as a victimless crime, it is illegal and it is also taking freedom away from a disabled person.
“They may not be able to access a venue if all of the disabled bays are occupied by able-bodied people who are either too cheap or too lazy to find their own parking space.”
He added: “Badge holders should not be colluding with friends or relatives to commit an offence. They need to take responsibility for their badge.”
Most blue badge misuse in the city occurs within the Birmingham city centre middle ring road and it is estimated cheats could save up to £5,500 a year in parking charges. Since March more than 400 cases of suspected blue badge misuse have been detected.
Of those, 240 have been issued with fines, 120 have seen their vehicles towed away and 85 cases have been sent to Magistrates’ court.
Common excuses used by cheats include claiming to have just dropped off or be picking up a disabled person, when they are simply using the badge to park closer to venues or to avoid paying the parking fees.
Research also found that ten per cent of blue badge misuse involves a stolen or fraudulently obtained permit from someone who has died.
