Barking & Wandsworth go after blue badge fraud

Barking and Dagenham Council has decided to clamp down on blue badge fraud, which is a growing problem in the borough. A recent check of blue badges in Barking Town Centre revealed that 20% of badges had been illegally copied. As well as copied badges the other problem is drivers using other people's badges, often family members, to park illegally in disabled bays.

Blue badge fraud takes away much-needed disabled parking bays from those who genuinely need them. There are 53 disabled parking spaces in Barking Town Centre, which should be enough for those in need. However, the council has been told by disabled groups that the spaces are often taken and it hopes that the clamp-down on blue badge fraud will help solve the problem.

Wandsworth Council reports good sentences being passed for blue badge fraud. Hurrah!

• Fatima Kelay from Battersea was caught using an elderly relative's blue badge to park outside Clapham Junction station all day while she caught a train to the law firm in central London where she works. She pleaded guilty to four counts of deception and was fined £1,415 and ordered to pay the council's prosecution costs of £709. She had also earlier had to pay £250 to free her vehicle from the car pound after it was seized by investigators.
  
  
• Eriden Pasic was also prosecuted for using a relative's blue badge to park all day in a designated disabled parking bay in Disraeli Road in Putney, while he worked at a bank in Putney High Street. Mr Pasic, from Paddington, admitted three counts of parking fraud and was fined £1,065 and ordered to pay legal costs of £667. These sums were on top of the £250 he had been forced to pay to recover his vehicle from the car pound.
  
  
• Carole Morris from Wallington admitted three counts of parking fraud and another offence of possessing an item for the purposes of fraud, after it emerged that she was using her dead mother-in-law's blue badge to park near the children's clothes shop she works at in Northcote Road, Battersea. She was fined £1,415 and ordered to pay the council's legal costs of £793, which came on top of the £250 towaway fee she'd had to pay to get her car back.
  
  
• Mohomed Karim from Streatham was prosecuted for using a badge that had been fraudulently altered so that he could park his Mercedes for nothing in Brightwell Crescent in Tooting. Mr Karim admitted altering the dates on a permit that had expired in August 2004 so that it looked like it could still be used up to August 2009. He was fined £365 with court costs of £583 – in addition to the £250 fee at the car pound.
  
  
• Shopkeeper Mohammed Batha, also fromn Streatham, was caught using his elderly father's blue badge to park for free near his clothes shop in the Mitcham Road, Tooting. He was fined £1,195 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £695, on top of the £250 he had to pay to get his car back after it had been towed away.
  
  
• Kwabena Acheampong from Walthamstow was using a permit - previously reported as lost - that belonged to his girlfriend's mother. He was caught using it to stay at his girlfriend's house in Tooting. He admitted three counts of deception and was fined £615 plus costs of £500 – in addition to the £250 release fee he had to pay to get his car out of the vehicle pound.
  
  
• And Samsoodin Tejani from Mitcham, who was caught using his elderly mother's permit to park near Tooting Bec tube station while he commuted into London for work, was fined £3,165 and ordered to pay the council's legal costs of £681. He failed to appear in court to answer the six fraud charges against him and the case was proved in his absence. He had also earlier been required to pay £250 to recover his car from the pound.

The council's transport spokesman Cllr Guy Senior said:

These motorists should hang their heads in shame.

Not only are they taking away parking spaces from people who are genuinely disabled, but they have no qualms about leaving their elderly parents and relatives cruelly cooped up indoors just so they can save themselves a few pounds each day.

Anyone tempted by blue badge fraud should remember that we receive a steady stream of tip-offs from colleagues, neighbours and sometimes even friends and families. Many people are outraged that these drivers are abusing a scheme that is there to help the disabled.

If you are tempted and we catch you, then rest assured you will go to court, get a big fine and a criminal record and your friends and neighbours will no doubt read all about it the local paper too.