Enforcement officers have heard it all when it comes to excuses from drivers misusing disabled blue badges in Nottingham. "It's God's will," was one earlier this month for using a cancelled parking permit.
"It's a BMW and I don't want it damaged," was given as another reason for illegally using the blue badge awarded to drivers or passengers who are disabled or have a health condition affecting mobility. Permit holders are allowed to park for free (usually but not always) in spaces that are closer to their destination, including single and double yellow lines.
"I was late for a restaurant reservation," was the explanation of a motorist using a stolen badge in the city. Nottingham's compliance and fraud officer of 17 years, Marcus Hall, said: "A lot of people are late for things and the first thing they do is think 'I'm going to use a blue badge'. All you are cutting out there is trying to find somewhere else to park where you've got to pay or just wanted to get closer to where you wanted to be."
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Wanting to park close to Goose Fair landed another motorist in a spot of bother when they used a blue badge belonging to a relative living over 200 miles away. "Considering you have to pay to park there, the only benefit to that was to get a space because there's no parking at Goose Fair," said Mr Hall.
"I'm quite interested what goes through people's minds when they think of these things. Some of them are so unique. God's will is a new one. A lot of it is laziness in all due respect but now with the money side of things it's cost saving - they are saving money on parking. A lot of people say they are stressed out."
A motorist whose defence was "I only used it for a bit to pick them up" was reprimanded after entering a car park at 8am and leaving at 5pm, while a driver claimed "I found it and didn't know who to hand it into".
Nottingham is one of the most proactive local authorities when it comes to blue badge monitoring. Mr Hall said: "We are one of the few local authorities that actively do it every day, which is why we are quite unique here. Our civil enforcement officers check badges when they are out on patrol - we don't just do it on a specific day or a week, that's why we find more than usual.
"We have around 30+ CEOs who can check badges at the roadside and all CPOs are trained to inspect and retain as well so there is always someone out there looking. It needs doing. We try to protect the spaces for legitimate users. We have had stories of blue badge holders not being able to park so they go home."
Last year they caught 572 people abusing the system. The most prolific offenders were driving a Mercedes. They included a prison officer, bus driver, accountant and students.
Types of misuse included using an expired badge or one that had been cancelled as it belonged to someone who was dead, it was stolen, lost or had been revoked. More than 100 of those were using permits belonging to a family member or friend, who weren't present at the time - and were sometimes hundreds of miles away.
"A lot of people don't seem to know that using an expired badge is a criminal offence and a lot of those are used by blue badge holders themselves because they've forgotten to get a new one. Refusing to produce a badge for inspection is also an offence but that's rare," said Mr Hall.
Penalty charges of £50 to £70 can be imposed for those abusing the system but last year 24 people were prosecuted. Fines range from £200 upwards.
Recently a motorist was fined £1,916 after pleading not guilty to refusing to produce a badge for inspection, while officers proved the holder was at home.
A rise in stolen badges is currently one of the concerns. Nearly 90% used in Nottingham were stolen in London. "It was up last year to 24, the year before it was about six or seven. Some are being used up in Nottingham within days of them being stolen," said Mr Hall.
Using the badge of a dead person is a common crime. One person said they kept the badge in the car to remember them by. The offence can carry points on a driving licence as well as a fine.
Occasionally cars found displaying out of date badges have been towed away. That happened eight times last year and drivers can't get their car back from the pound until the badge is handed over.
Mr Hall said: "We can check if badges are valid through the national database for any badge throughout the country. If we have a concern about a badge being misused we have methods like phoning the badge holder to see if they're actually part of the journey. We can send officers to the address of the badge owner if in the local area.
"We get a lot of parents using kids' badges. Parents think they can use their child's blue badge for their own benefit so after they've dropped the child off at school, for example, they'll go off shopping with a friend and they will use the badge. They can't do that."
Action can be taken on the streets and council-owned car parks but officers aren't permitted to carry out checks at supermarkets or retail parks. Mr Hall said: "The annoying thing for me is the lack of enforcement in some places. The biggest complaints is supermarkets and retail parks because they don't get the enforcement like on-street parking does.
"We can't do private land unless we have written permission to do so. I have gone to supermarkets and said will you let our officers come in and check, but they don't want to know. If we were allowed to go in we would make a difference."
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