COUNCIL chiefs have reminded disabled blue badge holders in Droitwich to ensure their permits are properly used despite a week-long operation which found no evidence of misuse.
Officers from Wychavon District Council carried out an inspection of disabled blue badges as part of a crackdown on the misuse of permits in the district.
The week-long operation, which ran from July 23 to 27, saw the council’s parking services team and Civic Enforcement Officers inspect a total of 106 badges displayed by drivers.
Cars were inspected across the council’s car parks and at busy on-street parking bays in the town, Pershore, Evesham and Broadway.
The majority of permits inspected were being used properly; however, officers spoke to some badge holders to offer relevant advice such as how badges should legally be displayed.
With an estimated three million blue badges issued in England and Wales and close to 10,000 badges issued in Worcestershire alone, demand for parking in disabled bays is high.
Blue Badge misuse is a serious offence that can result in a maximum fine of £1,000, as well as withdrawal of the badge.
Coun Bradley Thomas, portfolio holder for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure at Wychavon District Council, said: “The blue badge scheme is designed to give people with genuine disabilities easy access to shops, services and town centres.
“When people abuse the scheme, honest permit holders lose out which can make a simple trip to the shop a much more difficult and, in some cases, impossible task.”
Kelly Griffin, operations manager at Wychavon District Council, said: “It is clear the majority of permit holders in Wychavon are using the scheme properly and our team received a lot of positive comments from badge holders who were delighted that we were checking Blue Badges for misuse.
“We hope that by carrying out these inspections we will begin to eradicate the misuse of Blue Badges not just in Wychavon, but county-wide.”
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