Blue Badge Fraud: ‘More Fakes Than Ever Before’

Blue Badges are being faked, doctored, stolen and sold online, fraud investigators are warning.

They are also finding people using badges belonging to family members without them present, and even badges of those who have died – which is illegal.

Paul Slowey, from the Blue Badge Fraud Investigation (BBFI) agency, says he is confiscating “more fake badges than ever before”, and that the Blue Badge scheme is being “thoroughly abused” by those wanting to get free parking that they are not entitled to.

The government says it has strengthened powers by enabling plain clothes officers to inspect Blue Badges and confiscate those being used misused.

The Blue Badge scheme gives disabled people access to specially adapted designated bays.

Badge holders are allowed to park for free in on-street pay-and-display bays and for up to three hours on yellow lines – except where there are loading restrictions.

They are also exempt from paying the London Congestion Charge which costs £15 / day.

Parking can come at a premium, with on-street bays costing as much as £5.90 per hour in some parts of the south-east England.

This makes the badges desirable to thieves and fraudsters, who sell them on.

The BBFI agency, a community interest company run by Mr Slowey from Hampshire, helps local councils check drivers are using Blue Badges correctly.

Fake and stolen badges are being sold online for hundreds of pounds

He says he is confiscating “more fake badges than ever before”, and that the Blue Badge system is being “thoroughly abused”.

Mr Slowey is calling for more enforcement to help check and seize badges, which he hopes will lead to prosecutions.

The use of fake badges, taking up the already limited number of disabled bays, has a knock-on effect.

Steve Swyer, who lives in rural Surrey. has a Blue Badge because he has multiple sclerosis (MS).

He uses a wheelchair so he needs to park somewhere level and with a dropped kerb and which is close to his destination.

He says disabled bays cater to these needs, but often cars are parked in the bays with no Blue Badge displayed.

“It used to make me quite angry but I’ve got so used to it now. It’s just become a part of normal life for me – to pull up and realise you can’t get where you need to go,” Mr Swyer said.

“If I didn’t have the car I’d spend probably 90% of my time indoors, literally not seeing anybody or going anywhere.”

He says he is always fearful someone might break into his car to steal his Blue Badge.

“You’re advertising something that’s very valuable – it makes you a target.”

East Sussex County Council is one of the local authorities now checking for Blue Badge abuse.

Mark Jobling, an investigations officer in the council’s Blue Badge team, says one-in-five badges is being misused.

He says he mostly deals with disabled people’s family members using the badge without the badge holder present, but also has had cases of people using a deceased relative’s badge.

Erika North from Kent works for BBC Children in Need. She also has multiple sclerosis.

Disabled bays near where she lives “are so in demand, often by 10am the few areas that have disabled bays are already full up,” she says.

“My Blue Badge enables me to carry on as I normally should be able to do for as long as possible.

“It’s not some sort of perk”.

Parking in a disabled bay without displaying a valid Blue Badge can result in a fine.

Blue Badge misuse – such as using someone else’s permit – comes with harsher penalties.

It is a classed as fraud and is punishable by an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.

A new scheme to crack down on Blue Badge misuse was launched in Brighton and Hove in December.

‘Competing priorities’

The charity Disabled Motoring UK is calling for local authorities to be given more resources for enforcement.

The Local Government Association says councils will do what they can, but they have to take into account a number of competing priorities when using their limited resources to take enforcement action against blue badge fraud.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Exploitation of the Blue Badge scheme is completely unacceptable – it is a vital resource helping many people travel with confidence.

It says it is “supporting the police to tackle this issue by working closely with local authorities”.

It says it has strengthened the powers to help local authorities tackle fraud and misuse, and given them the ability to cancel stolen badges.