Disabled parking badge misuse prosecutions rise

[annie]

Disabled parking badge prosecutions have risen by 84% in a year, new figures reveal.

Councils in England took legal action against 985 people in 2014-15, the vast majority of them for using someone else's blue badge.

It compares with 535 the year before, data from the Department for Transport has shown.

Disability groups said they hoped legitimate holders of blue badges would be treated fairly by fellow motorists.

Thefts of badges have also risen with 2,056 cases, compared with 1,756 the year before.

Across England, all but 28 prosecutions were of non-badge holders using another person's permit.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council in London prosecuted the most people of any authority, with 190 cases in 2014-15.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35408558

[maureenho]

That is a huge number of people misusing the blue badge and that's without those who just park in the spaces with no badge and sprint into the shops.