Woman fined for using dead relative's badge

A woman from Halifax has been fined for illegally displaying a blue badge belonging to her dead relative.
Calderdale Magistrates Court.Calderdale Magistrates Court.
Calderdale Magistrates Court.

Beverley Wright was caught using the badge of a deceased relative and pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulently displaying the badge at Calderdale Magistrates’ Court.

She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £20 victim surcharge and £266 costs.

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This case is the first prosecution since Calderdale Council approved a blue badge policy in February, detailing how they deal with fraud and misuse of blue badges.

It also follows a recent day of action where the council targeted blue badge misuse, and an amnesty where people were able to return any invalid badges with no questions asked.

Further days of action are taking place shortly to continue to ensure that blue badges are being used correctly.

Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods and communities, Coun Susan Press, said: “The misuse of the blue badge scheme is an issue all across the UK, and has been highlighted as one of the areas of fraud that is on the increase.

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“We want to make sure that parking spaces for disabled people are used by those who genuinely need the space.

“We’re taking this issue very seriously, and this case shows that we will investigate and if possible, prosecute anyone who tries to abuse the blue badge scheme.”