A car is being driven away on lorry in the centre of Nottingham during a very hot Friday afternoon. A small crowd of onlookers gathers and begins to speculate on why the vehicle is being taken - with some believing that the car simply has no insurance.
But this is in fact one of the hundreds of offences taking place every month in Nottingham related to blue badges and disabled parking bays. Those in charge of protecting the blue badge scheme say the misuse and abuse of them is getting worse, with 573 offences recorded during the last calendar year.
Nottinghamshire Live joined Marcus Hall, 42, a compliance and fraud officer with Nottingham City Council, for one of his regular patrols inspecting blue badges. The day we join him (May 26) happens to be a national day of blue badge enforcement action, but this work is something he says his team are doing day in, day out.
