Disabled badge fraud concern in Worthing

West Sussex County Council commissioned consultant adviser Paul Slowey to report ways to reform the county's blue badge system - and Worthing comes in for particular mention.

Mr Slowey said a survey in 10 town centre streets, last December and January, showed 193 cars out of more than 628 cars (about 30 per cent) displaying a disabled person's badge and were using the badge to park on a yellow line, in a pay-and-display bay or a dedicated disabled bay.

"Although Worthing does have an elderly population, this is extraordinarily high, higher than I have observed elsewhere," said Mr Slowey.

Fraudulent badge use

He continued: "We estimate that between 13 per cent and 40 per cent badge use is fraudulent.

"In Worthing, we do not know the level of misuse and we recommend carrying out live pilot enforcement operations to discover what it is.

"If misuse is found, we recommend putting in place processes to consider whether it is appropriate to prosecute the people who misused the badges."

Mr Slowey's report is being studied today (Thursday, April 22) by the county council's adults' services select committee, which was meeting to discuss the blue badge scheme.

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