Norfolk council takes 13 people to court over blue badges

Warnings were also issued to dozens and blue badges were destroyed because they had been wrongly used.

Norfolk County Council's blue badge investigations officer helped get 13 people taken to court in 2023/24 - of whom six were successfully prosecuted.

Norwich Magistrates' Court heard cases about blue badge misuse (Image: Jamie Honeywood)

READ MORE: New Norwich and Yarmouth cameras to catch offending drivers

Among those prosecuted were:

• A woman who used a blue badge issued to her father, but reported as lost, to park on yellow lines at Quebec Street in Dereham just before last Christmas. She was convicted at Norwich Magistrates' Court in September and had to pay £1,849.71.

• A driver who parked on a yellow line in Market Gates in Great Yarmouth in December last year, using a disabled person's blue badge which was not theirs. They had to pay £190 after they were convicted at the town's magistrates' court in July.

• A man used a blue badge issued to his wife to park in Church Road, Hoveton in November last year. He had to pay £960 after he was convicted at Norwich Magistrates' Court last month.

• A man used a blue badge issued to his mother to park in a pay and display parking bay in Oak Street, Norwich in October last year. They were ordered to pay £1,653.48 after appearing before city magistrates.

• A woman used her father's blue badge to park on yellow lines in Tanner Street in Thetford last August. That landed her in Norwich Magistrates' Court in June, where she was ordered to pay £1,321.68.

Norfolk County Council received almost 100 reports about blue badge abuse in 2023/24 (Image: Submitted)

READ MORE: The Norfolk streets with the most parking tickets revealed

The council also issued 24 verbal or written warnings about misuse and seized 23 badges. Eleven were then destroyed.

More than 35,000 valid badges are held across the county, permitting holders to park on single or double yellow lines for up to three hours in vehicles they are driving or travelling in.

Holders can also park for free in areas with on-street parking meters and pay-and-display machines. They can also park for free in on-street disabled parking bays.

The county council received 98 reports of misuse in 2023/24, up one on the previous year.

Officers said blue badge prosecutions served as a deterrent to misuse.

Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for highways, transport and infrastructure (Image: Norfolk County Council) And Graham Plant, the Conservative-controlled council's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said there were "societal benefits" in pursuing offenders.