Wealthy doctor used  late mother's blue badge to save money

A WEALTHY doctor used his dead mother's blue badge while on a city centre shopping spree to avoid paying for parking, a court has heard.
Five people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City CouncilFive people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City Council
Five people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City Council

Disgraced Dr Hoshmand Kalami was the latest person to be hauled in front of magistrates by Portsmouth City Council for blue badge fraud.

It comes as the authority continues its clampdown on disabled badge cheats, which has seen more than 100 people punished in court since 2009, with five more among the latest to have been rapped.

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Council chief Gerald Vernon Jackson warned Portsmouth would continue its fight in stamping out blue badge abuse.

Five people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City CouncilFive people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City Council
Five people have appeared in court for blue badge fraud as part of a crackdown by Portsmouth City Council

He said: '˜Abusing the scheme for your own, selfish reasons is an attack on everybody who truly needs and deserves a blue badge.

'˜Of course there are mistakes. But for people doing this in a way that's thought through and calculated is very different and will never be tolerated in Portsmouth.'

Retired doctor Kalami, illegally parked his £36,000 Mercedes E220 in a disabled bay in Landport View, Landport, on April 16, using the blue badge of his 100-year-old mother who died almost a year earlier.

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Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard that 65-year-old, of Cardiff, left his vehicle next to a 500-space car park when he was caught by an enforcement officer.

However, when the official demanded to see Kalami's badge, the retired doctor - who the court heard had squirreled away £300,000 in savings - refused and drove off.

Prosecutor Jenny Ager said: '˜She approached and requested that the badge be produced for inspection.The man removed the badge for display and held it behind the driver's door.

'˜She asked him to hand it over to her and he said no. She asked him for his name but again, he said no. He got into his car and drove off.'

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He pled guilty to abuse of a disabled badge and failure to produce a badge for inspection, receiving a fines totalling £1,083.

Other people to have been rapped by the council included a former Hampshire County Council and later Dorset County Council social worker Natasha Smallwood.

The 45-year-old, of  Chandlers Ford, illegally used her husband's blue badge to park her Mercedes SLK outside Portsmouth Family Courts, where she was attending a hearing, on three separate occasions.

When caught on April 11, she lied to officers claiming her husband shopping in town and she was meeting him for lunch.

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She admitted three offences of blue badge fraud and was fined a total of £1,202.

Nicholas Quartermain, 59, of South Parade, Southsea, was fined £1,045 after being found guilty of illegally using his 84-year-old mum's badge to park in a disabled bay in Marmion Road on March 15 while shopping at Waitrose.

Kay Adeoye, 46, of Pretoria Road, Southsea, pleaded guilty to fraudulently altering a parking permit to leave her car in a residential parking zone, in St Georges Way, Portsea. She admitted to using altered permits on at least five occasions while attending the University of Portsmouth.

Adeoye was given a 12-month conditional discharge and made to pay £300 in costs to the council.

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Jacqueline Brickley-Clark, a school teacher from Abergavenny, in Wales, was caught using her 75-year-old uncle's badge to leave her Audi A3 on double yellow lines in The Mary Rose Street, Southsea - opposite a 500 space multi-storey car park.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty and was fined a total of £781.

Lynne Rigby, principal officer at Portsmouth Disability Forum, welcomed the latest batch of convictions.

'˜This sends a powerful message to people to do the right thing,' she said. '˜Blue badge fraudsters show very little consideration of concern for people that they are disenfranchising.'

Since the council started blue badge enforcement in 2009 it has retained 1,178 badges and 378 permits, prosecuting 110 suspects.