Badge fraud sentence lottery

With punishments ranging from light fines to community service orders, Helen Smith says it’s time that judges got consistently tougher on Blue Badge fraudsters

You only have to look at some of the sentences handed out to Blue Badge fraudsters to realise that there really doesn’t seem to be any consistency.

Just recently judges at Harrow Crown Court handed down two wildly different sentences to two Blue Badge fraudsters. Faheem Zulqarnain was given a £100 fine and ordered to pay £100 costs while Sahar Vakilzadeh got 40 hours unpaid work and was ordered to pay a £200 release fee for her car and £1,500 in costs. These different sentences have led to criticism from Brent Council. One councillor said: “Blue Badge fraud is one of the most selfish, inconsiderate traffic offences that we see on our roads, I urge the courts, in every case, to bring down the full force of law on those responsible, sending out a clear message that this crime is socially unacceptable.”

But it’s not just Harrow Crown Court where the sentences handed down to Blue Badge fraudsters vary enormously. In most courts across the UK judges just seem to hand out fines. These can range from less than £100 to much more substantial sums, as was the case with Osman Sultan from Ashton-under-Lyne who was fined £1,095 for using a badge on two occasions without the badge holder present.

Occasionally judges impose harsher sentences. Robert Rule from Beechwood, Runcorn was caught using a badge, the expiry date of which had been doctored to show 2009, and was sentenced to 60 hours of unpaid community service. A judge in Peterborough also handed down a three week driving ban to Sandra Benne who was caught using a Blue Badge belonging to her dead mother. This was hailed as a success by the disabled motorists’ organisation Mobilise. Chairman Douglas Campbell said “I think that 21 days without being able to drive is a suitable punishment. I congratulate this judge on the decision he made and I hope to see many more judges following suit.”

But it doesn’t seem that many judges have followed suit and paltry fines still seem to be pretty much what the average Blue Badge fraudster is likely to get.

In some areas Blue Badge abuse is taken very seriously with Blue Badge enforcement teams employed by local councils. But catching the criminals is just the first step. If all they get is a few hundred pounds fine and they’re saving that on parking fees why would they stop? The punishment needs to fit the crime and people need to know what will happen if they’re caught. Banning someone from driving takes away their liberty which in effect is what they have done to disabled people. Maybe if all fraudsters lost their licence and had to do community service we’d see less people doctoring, forging, borrowing and stealing badges in the first place.