Motoring experts say blue badge misuse is becoming a national crisis
Brazen drivers have been caught using blue badges belonging to dead people.
Dozens of drivers in Birmingham have been caught using dead people’s blue badges in a bid to cheat parking rules, a BirminghamLive investigation has revealed.
They were among hundreds of cases of blue badge fraud identified in the city over the last few years involving people who thought the rules didn’t apply to them, in what motoring experts say is becoming a national crisis.
We asked Birmingham City Council about the different ways motorists had tried to get away with blue badge misuse.
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On many occasions, people who weren’t disabled and didn’t have any health conditions were caught using badges that weren’t theirs in an attempt to get away with parking on double yellows or in disabled bays.
In the most brazen cases, drivers were using badges belonging to people who had died.
This will likely have included relatives, as people continued fraudulently using their badges after they had died.
There have been 78 cases of this nature identified since 2021, our data showed.
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The most common way blue badges are misused is when the badge holder is not present.
This means someone using a badge which doesn’t belong to them to try to get around parking rules. There were 327 reported cases of this over the last four years.
Other types of fraud involved copied or altered badges, and altered clocks on the badges.
It comes after figures from the British Parking Association (BPA) showed cases of blue badge misuse have skyrocketed by over 1,000% since 2016.
Experts said ‘borrowing Grandma’s badge’ just to get free, convenient parking was becoming increasingly common.
Anyone caught misusing a blue badge faces a fine of up to £1,000.
Alison Tooze, chief engagement and policy officer at the BPA, said “The statistics around the level of blue badge misuse and fraud are shocking.
“We cannot continue to ignore this issue, especially when the victims are some of the most vulnerable in our society.
“Badge holders rely on accessible parking to carry out their day-to-day activities and for many it is a vital part of living an independent life.
“Perpetrators of blue badge misuse and fraud deprive genuine badge holders of this right to freedom, whilst costing ordinary taxpayers millions every year. This must stop.”