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Legal News

New Blue Badge System Introduced To Target Fraud (3 January 2012)

Date: 03/01/2012
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, New Blue Badge System Introduced To Target Fraud

A new Blue Badge system has been introduced in England and Scotland to target drivers who abuse the disabled parking system. An estimated 2.5 million individuals have been granted blue badges. Blue badges allow drivers to stop on yellow lines and avoid parking charges and congestion fees. Blue badge fraud has been predicted to cost taxpayers £46 million per annum.

The new blue badges feature added security and the way in which individuals’ eligibility is determined has also been improved. Ministers hope that the new design of the Blue Badge will make the permits more difficult to forge. Norman Baker, the Transport Minister, has described drivers who fraudulently use Blue Badges as “disgraceful”, claiming that they prevent genuine Blue Badge holders from stopping in parking bays specifically designed for individuals in need. Mr. Baker added these drivers cheat the majority of drivers who pay for parking.

In the past, Blue Badges were composed from card and were handwritten. However, the new Blue Badges are electronically printed, similarly to a driving licence. The new Blue Badges feature a unique hologram, a digital photograph of the individual with the disability and a serial number that allows parking attendants to inspect the badges more easily when looking through a car windscreen.

Mr. Baker has described the new Blue Badge as being as “secure as a banknote”. He added that the authorities had committed themselves to ensuring that there was no way in which to scam the disabled parking system.

Duncan Lewis’ welfare benefits solicitors can fight for clients’ eligibility to Blue Badges.

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