A citywide crackdown on blue badge fraud has seen several stolen and misused badges seized and cars impounded for fraudulently displaying blue badges.
The City of Edinburgh Council initiative is targeting areas where blue badge misuse has been reported. This includes the use of lost or stolen badges or those that belonged to a deceased person, and the misuse of badges belonging to family members by relatives who are not eligible to use them.
Blue badges allow people with mobility issues to park more conveniently and free of charge in pay and display and shared use on-street parking bays, on single yellow lines when loading is allowed and in disabled person’s parking places.
Over two days of focused action in recent weeks 16 parking tickets were issued and seven cars impounded for displaying lost, stolen or misused badges, which were taken from offenders. Where car owners were family members using blue badges without the badge holder being present, badges were confiscated and warning letters issued to holders, who could face losing their blue badge as a result.
Councillor Scott Arthur, Transport and Environment Convener, said:
Using a counterfeit blue badge or one belonging to someone else, whether it’s lost, stolen or that of a family member, is fraud. Doing so doesn’t just break the rules that everyone else adheres to, but it takes away much-needed spaces for those with mobility issues. It is a fundamentally selfish act.
While it’s only a small minority of people that misuse blue badges, there’s still a problem. That’s why I hope the action being taken by our parking and fraud teams sends a clear message – blue badge fraud will not be tolerated.
Working with parking contractors NSL, the Council plans to continue proactively clamping down on blue badge fraud to stop perpetrators abusing the parking system and to improve accessibility for those in genuine need of parking spaces.