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Saturday 9 February 2019

Blue Badge Fraudster Convicted


A Dartford woman has been convicted of fraudulently using her grandmother's blue disabled badge.

Laura Halford, 31, of Watling Street, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud during her recent appearance at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court.

Kent County Council's Counter Fraud Team launched an investigation after receiving several reports of Halford's car displaying a Royal Borough of Greenwich blue badge in car parks around Sevenoaks.

She was given a penalty charge notice by parking officers after CCTV footage showed her parked in Buckhurst car park on 2nd January, 2018.

Halford appealed the notice but was caught parking in a disabled bay in Suffolk Way car park the following day. She received a second penalty charge.

The blue badge holder was not present on either occasion.

Paul Rock, Kent County Council's Counter Fraud Manager, said: "The vast majority of blue badges in Kent are used correctly and where there is an allegation of misuse we will investigate.

"As a council, our focus is on correcting behaviour through education and working with district and borough councils to ensure compliance.

"Cautions are a balanced way of dealing with offenders without going through the time and expense of a prosecution.

"However, in this case, Mrs Halford did not attend any interviews under caution and the level of evidence gave us no choice but to proceed with a prosecution.

"We take blue badge fraud extremely seriously and we expect more prosecutions in the near future."

Magistrates imposed a three year conditional discharge and ordered Halford to pay £750 in prosecution costs.

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