Three blue badge cheats in Portsmouth are fined

Portsmouth City Council successfully prosecuted three cheats for the crime.

Susan Wake, 61, of Malvern Road, Southsea, was fined £630 for misusing her husband’s disabled badge to go shopping in Southsea, on July 25, 2016.

Diane Richards, 57, of Knowlsey Road, Cosham, was also punished after she was caught illegally using her mother’s blue badge while shopping in Cosham on September 11. She was fined £130.

Bolton woman Kelly Deakins received the biggest fine after she used the blue badge of her dead grandmother to park in a disabled bay in the city centre, on August 24.

Prosecuted in her absence at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court, Deakins was slapped with combined penalty of costs and a fine of £1,022.

Micheal Robinson, parking manager at the city council said: ‘Blue badge abuse is against the law won’t be tolerated in the city – we’re dedicated to protecting the integrity of the blue badge scheme.’

Councillor Jim Flemming, the council’s traffic boss, added: ‘I am determined that those putting disabled people at a disadvantage will be caught and prosecuted.’