Portsmouth FC fan so desperate to watch Pompey she uses disabled mum and son's Blue Badges on yellow lines

Justine Pierce, a 53-year-old primary school special needs teaching assistant from Bognor Regis, was caught out by the same suspicious enforcement officer who landed a hat-trick after capturing her on three occasions. 

But the West Sussex County Council employee denied any wrongdoing and even lodged an appeal after being slapped with a penalty before finally coming clean over her quick-fire fraud series, and declaring: “I’m lying.”

Pierce, of Warwick Place, was first caught red-handed by enforcement officer Billy-Joe Dolton on October 8, 2022, when Pompey were playing Fleetwood. Pierce’s Ford Edge was spotted after kick-off at 3.15pm on double yellow lines in Carisbrooke Road, Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard.

Checks revealed the badge belonged to a 91-year-old woman - Pierce’s mum - before the enforcement officer phoned the number on the badge. Pierce answered but was too busy watching the match to engage in conversation. The defendant claimed she “couldn’t hear very well” as she was “at a football match”, the court heard. She said the badge holder was unavailable. The match finished 1-1.   

Then a couple of weeks later on Tuesday October 25 at 7.50pm, Pierce was back at Fratton Park to watch the Blues do battle with Oxford Utd - a game that also finished 1-1. Again, the defendant was caught offside when she parked on double yellow lines in Carisbrooke Road with a Blue Badge on display.

The eagle-eyed enforcement officer recognised the offending car from two weeks earlier but this time checks on the Blue Badge on display revealed it belonged to someone else - Pierce’s teenage son. When Mr Dolton phoned the number on the badge no one answered - meaning the location of the badge holder could not be proved and Pierce received a stay of execution.

However, Mr Dolton would not be denied as four days later on Saturday October 29 as Pompey were preparing to take on Shrewsbury, the Portsmouth City Council officer witnessed Pierce leaving the car at 2.10pm. Suspicions were again raised when she was seen heading towards Fratton Park after again parking on double yellow lines in Carisbrooke Road. Checks revealed the Blue Badge belonged to her disabled son.

The court heard the officer approached Pierce who stated the badge holder was with her but she had dropped him off “just up the other end by the Fratton entrance”. “She went on to say that he is a season ticket holder, and she was going to meet him somewhere in the grounds prior to the match starting,” the officer said in a statement read out in court.

Pierce then told the officer the badge holder couldn’t come out of the ground because he was looking after her granddaughter who was diabetic, before she snapped: “Just keep the ticket (badge) and I'll sort it all out later.”

The defendant was subsequently contacted by Stephen Goodall, senior criminal investigator at the city council, and maintained her account of events - before even lodging an appeal to her penalty notice. However, video replay evidence of the flashpoints was gathered from ANPR cameras in the area - raising the possibility of foul play.

After continuing to protest her innocence when grilled by Mr Goodall, Pierce, unable to mask her crimes anymore when the threat of checking Fratton Park CCTV was made, suddenly delivered an unbridled admission of her guilt. “Don’t bother, I'm lying,” she confessed, before admitting that neither of the badge holders had been present on any occasion she was using the badges.

The defendant, in a subsequent email to the enforcement officer, admitted the error of her ways. “She stated she lied because she panicked and was worried about the consequences,” Mr Goodall said. “She goes on to offer an apology and says she is a compassionate person who cares for disabled people in both her private and professional life.”

Pierce admitted three offences of falsely using a Blue Badge and one count of making a false penalty charge appeal. She was given an £80 fine and a conditional discharge - with her agony compounded after failing to witness a single home Pompey win during her crime series.