Record number of blue badge fraudsters caught in Portsmouth

And now parking enforcement bosses at the city council have warned they will be clamping down even harder on cheats flouting the rules next year.

The team is expanding its operations to not only target those misusing disabled people’s blue badges but to also target tax dodgers and those abandoning vehicles on the city’s streets.

Steve Goodall, city council parking investigation officer, said he was sickened by blue badge fraudsters, some of whom use dead relatives’ permits to avoid parking charges.

He said: ‘People illegally using a blue badge are absolutely deplorable. There’s no excuse for it.

‘I understand why people misuse badges, I understand that you might have run out of change or whatever explanation you have for it. However, that’s not an excuse.

‘I have got very little tolerance for people who misuse disabled badges and I think that people who go out and use a deceased person’s badge is absolutely disgusting.’

Portsmouth City Council has been running its blue badge enforcement scheme since 2009. During this time, it has seized 1,066 badges from crooks abusing them.

But in recent years new mobile technology has made things easier for enforcement officers to identify and tackle fraudsters.

This year saw a record number of blue badges recovered by the council, with 191 being seized – up 67 per cent from two years ago, when just 114 badges were taken.

As 2017 comes to an end, the council has said its parking enforcement team will be branching out even further in a bid to tackle vehicle crime.

Dozens of officers will roam the streets on the hunt for untaxed or abandoned vehicles as well as seeking out persistent penalty charge notice evaders and bring them to justice.

Tristan Samuels, director of regeneration at the council, said particular effort will be placed on ridding the streets of untaxed vehicles.

Four untaxed vehicles were removed from Portsmouth in the year’s final operation by the city council’s civil enforcement team.

Ranging from cars to flatbed trucks, the vehicles were seized and taken to a storage compound where they will either be destroyed, sold at auction or returned to their owners – after paying a fee.

Mr Samuels said the council would work with the DVLA to track down untaxed vehicles and said: ‘These operations are essential in clearing our roads, and freeing up available parking for residents.’

Councillor Simon Bosher, the city’s transport boss, said the council would seek to hunt those who persistently refused to pay penalty charge notices for parking violations.

He threatened the worst abusers would face severe sanctions – including having the car seized and a hefty fine.

Cllr Bosher said: ‘If a penalty charge notice goes unpaid, we will work to ensure the debt is recovered.

‘In this case the offender had avoided paying 12 PCNs amounting to £900 – this is a sizeable sum, and a debt that we are pleased to recover.’

He added abandoned vehicles were a ‘blight on the environment’ and that the council would step up efforts to remove them from the city.

‘They attract vandalism and often pose a danger to the public,’ he said. ‘It is important that we remove them quickly and that the offenders are prosecuted.’

The council is appealing to residents to give their views on parking in the city.

See portsmouth.gov.uk/ext/news/parking-in-portsmouth-have-your-say.