Woman used dead mum’s parking badge

6:00am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

Stock image of a car with a blue badge Stock image of a car with a blue badge

A WOMAN misused her dead mother’s blue badge to avoid an £8 parking ticket.

Deborah Wright, 53, altered the expiry date on the badge and used it to park at Southampton railway station last July before travelling to London by train, Southampton magistrates heard.

But a sharp-eyed civil enforcement officer spotted that the altered date did not tally with the badge’s serial number, said Mary Kigonya, prosecuting for the city council.

Wright, of Middlefield Road, Plymouth admitted obtaining a service dishonestly and unlawful use of the blue badge.

The badge expired in 2011 but Wright tampered with it and changed 11 to 14, said Ms Kigonya.

Wright’s mother died in 2009 and she said she found the badge the day before she used it.

Wright told magistrates: “It was a spur of the moment thing on the anniversary of my mother’s birthday and death. I was very emotional. I regret it.”

Magistrates imposed a 12-month community order for 80 hours unpaid work and ordered Wright to pay £450 costs.

Comments(14)

townieboy says...
6:16am Wed 20 Feb 13

Harsh sentence when the Tony Morrow had 43 offences yesterday and just a suspended sentance. Just shows you that theres one law for the working class and one for the scum.

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Graeme Harrison says...
8:03am Wed 20 Feb 13

townieboy wrote:
Harsh sentence when the Tony Morrow had 43 offences yesterday and just a suspended sentance. Just shows you that theres one law for the working class and one for the scum.
How do you know that Tony's working class?

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iwishiwaslikeyou says...
8:19am Wed 20 Feb 13

Its a pretty low act to use a dead persons identity (which what this amounts to) to save a few quid deserves the punishment

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MGRA says...
8:35am Wed 20 Feb 13

ridiculous punishment, you get less if you punch a random stranger in the face in a pub.... typical. One rule for chavs, one for the rest. Stupid woman, unpleasant crime but way over the top sentence....

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shaun_inuk says...
9:20am Wed 20 Feb 13

It was £450 costs so i would assume she foight the case, a guilty plea from the off is usually a lot less.

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Linesman says...
9:51am Wed 20 Feb 13

Her mother died in 2009 and she claimed that she only found the blue badge the day before she used it in July 2012.

That must have been the day that a swarm of pigs was seen flying over Southampton.

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Niel says...
10:06am Wed 20 Feb 13

Good, about time Blue Badge abusers got the message!

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ohec says...
11:44am Wed 20 Feb 13

As far as i am concerned the sentence was correct and a minimum £500 fine for all misuse of blue badges should be the norm.

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Linesman says...
12:46pm Wed 20 Feb 13

ohec wrote:
As far as i am concerned the sentence was correct and a minimum £500 fine for all misuse of blue badges should be the norm.
I agree. A minimum fine of £500 for a 'one off' misuse of a blue badge, but do you really believe that it took Deborah Wright more than TWO YEARS to find her mother's blue badge, and that she used it ONLY ONCE?

I think that she got off light, and my betting is that, by using the blue badge, she saved more in parking charges than she was fined.

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ohec says...
2:00pm Wed 20 Feb 13

Perhaps if the issuing authorities took a dimmer view of abuse things might be better my old next door neighbours wife had a bad hip and the next thing you know he is having driving lessons (age 55) he passed and before you could blink they got a brand new motability car, he is out in it all the time and she goes out once a week, he told me he uses the badge and indeed i have seen him using it, i reported him and the badge got suspended for a few weeks after which he carried on.

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Wheeliebin says...
2:54pm Wed 20 Feb 13

As a disabled person it disgusts me that the badge is so often used by people as a 'free parking badge'.

The idea of the badge is to enable DISABLED people to park conveniently near to where ever they are going. Anyone abusing the badge should expect the law to come down on them hard.

Those who abuse the badge should be sent on a course to experience what it's like to be disabled. Then maybe they would not do it.

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rightway says...
5:59pm Wed 20 Feb 13

Most blue badge holders abuse the system anyway, they park where they like with no consideration for other road users.
When was the last time a genuine disabled person was seen getting out of a car displaying a blue badge. For the majority of blue badge holders its simply a way of avoiding parking charges, or because their to lazy to walk.
The whole system needs to be overhauled and only those deemed genuine should be given a badge and even then they should pay like the rest of us.

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wake up says...
6:22pm Wed 20 Feb 13

she should of put her mums ashes in the passenger seat , at least then she could of claimed her mum was in the car with her,,, and if they asked " why has the badge expired ! " she could say ,,, COZ ME MUM HAS TOO, ,,,, joking,,,

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kiddynamite says...
2:04pm Thu 28 Feb 13

I bet all you who are whining dont own a 'blue badge' huh. Blue badges are to make life easier for the disabled and the person caring for them. Stop being so petty and concentrate on you and yours and stop whining because someone else has something you dont! jeez!

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