Blue badge cheat rapped by council in Portsmouth crackdown

Portsmouth City Council is cracking down on people who are abusing the system.

The move comes after a blue badge fraudster, who used her elderly grandmother’s disability permit, was ordered to pay £1,110.

Hayley Noyce, of Ockenden Road, Littlehampton, took her grandmother’s badge while she was asleep in her care home and used it to park in Charlotte Street in Portsmouth on December 19, 2015.

Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard Noyce was caught red-handed after she parked her Renault Clio on double-yellow lines.

She was spotted using the disability permit by investigating officer Stephen Goodall.

But after she realised she had been caught, magistrates were told defiant Noyce confronted Mr Goodall and screamed a vicious ‘tirade’ of verbal abuse at him.

Noyce, who refused to appear in court, was charged with unlawfully using a disabled person’s badge and threatening behaviour likely to cause alarm or distress.

She was fined £660 and ordered to pay court costs totalling £384 and a victim surcharge of £66.

Nathan Mountney, who was prosecuting on behalf of Portsmouth City Council, said: ‘There’s clearly no remorse and blatant dishonesty and abuse towards an officer.

‘As soon as the defendant was given a caution she turned tail and ran away.’

Councillor Jim Fleming, the city’s traffic and transportation, boss added: ‘Blue badge abuse is a crime, and we won’t tolerate it in Portsmouth. We’re dedicated to protecting the integrity of the blue badge scheme and making sure it helps the people it’s meant to help.’

He said the council’s parking squad was named team of the year at the national British Parking awards for its work tackling blue badge abuse.

Between 2015-16 almost 1,500 penalty charge notices were issued to vehicles in designated disabled parking spaces without a valid badge on display and 14 people had been taken to court for blue badge fraud.