Blue Badge crackdown was launched last year<\/a>, leading to one prosecution and six warning letters being issued, and \u2018several other cases being prepared for prosecution.\u2019<\/p>\nThe council\u2019s report stated: \u2018The year to date has seen the highest number yet of cases opened as a result of working with the company providing the Parking Enforcement Officers, providing training and encouraging them to make referrals.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have identified a surge in the number of fake badges in circulation and recently undertook a raid in conjunction with Trading Standards, immigration, food standards and planning following a tip-off that counterfeit badges were being produced at a shop in the borough.<\/p>\n
\u2018This did not result in a positive outcome in respect of the Blue Badges but was a success for the other teams involved.\u2019 Transport for All, a charity focused on disabled people and transport, warned that people misusing disabled parking bays are causing major problems for people with a genuine need for them.<\/p>\n
![\"Salford](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_JS388177634.jpg\")
Salford council said there’s been a ‘surge’ in fake Blue Badges around the city (Image: Declan Carey)<\/p>\n
Research by the charity found that 70 per cent of disabled people reported a lack of disabled parking spaces despite having a Blue Badge, adding to the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a disabled person [with a Blue Bade], if you can\u2019t park near a shop it impacts your freedom to live life, and not being able to get around because someone has done something thoughtless,\u201d said Cat Whitehouse, co-chief executive at Transport for All.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already know there are not enough Blue Badge bays, about one in five people in the UK are disabled, some will need a Blue Badge and some won’t, but there are not enough Blue Badge spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got people who don\u2019t need them selfishly taking away those spaces, it\u2019s just wrong and it stops people being able to live properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salford council said it has opened more than 120 investigations in total since its Blue Badge crackdown was launched in November 2024.<\/p>\n
A two-week amnesty before the crackdown started saw 62 badges handed back. The council said two days after the amnesty ended, a man was found to be using his deceased mother\u2019s badge.<\/p>\n
He was fined \u00a3116 and made to pay costs of \u00a3350 with a victim surcharge of \u00a346 at Manchester Magistrates Court.<\/p>\n
Coun Barbara Bentham, lead member for neighbourhoods, environment and community safety at Salford council, said: \u201cA year ago we told our legitimate Blue Badges users that we would take action against those misusing the system and we are delivering on that commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all about making Salford a better and fairer place for all. When yellow bays are taken up by fraudulent users it impacts on those who genuinely need accessible parking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a national problem but we are determined to do all we can to eradicate it in this city. A huge thank you goes to the team on the streets who treat this issue sensitively and are doing a fantastic job.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlue Badge users have told us they are grateful for what we are doing to make it easier for them to park and go about their everyday business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A crackdown was launched last year.Fake Blue Badges are causing issues for people with a genuine need to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,1290,27605,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-591390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-salford","13":"tag-salford-council","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115606437176821112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Fake](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_JS388783110.jpg\")
Fake Blue Badges are causing issues for people with a genuine need to use disabled bays, a charity has warned (Image: Declan Carey)<\/p>\n