Bath & North East Somerset Council carried out almost 200 vehicle checks as part of a national day of action targeting the misuse of Blue Badges.
The coordinated campaign saw 142 councils take part across the UK. In total, more than 10,000 badges were inspected, with 182 seized.
B&NES civil enforcement officers carried out 193 vehicle checks with additional support from the council’s partner OneWest, finding four instances of misuse and seizing two badges, meaning the vast majority are being used correctly.
Examples of misuse include using a badge when the holder is not in the vehicle, using a badge that belonged to someone who has died, or using an out-of-date badge.
There are currently more than 8,700 registered Blue Badge holders in Bath and North East Somerset.
The day of action on Friday 24th May was the third time the campaign has taken place, with 82 councils involved in last year’s campaign when 5,145 Blue Badges were inspected and 39 stolen Blue Badges were seized across England and Wales.
Councillor Manda Rigby, Cabinet Member for Transport said: ‘This is the second year Bath & North East Somerset Council has supported the campaign as we continually tackle Blue Badge misuse.
“Access to disabled parking bays should always be proactively protected; although four instances of misuse were observed, we’re happy to see the vast majority of badges are being used correctly.
“Our civil enforcement officers will continue to monitor and challenge potential instances of misuse and fraud if identified.”
The council seized 46 badges during 2023 and has so far seized 16 this year.
