Man in court after using dead mum's parking permit

Salford City Council recently launched a crackdown on people who abuse disabled parking permits

A man has appeared in court after being caught using his late mother's disabled parking permit more than 16 months after she had died.

Salford City Council prosecuted Omer Ali Khan, 32, of Deerhurst Drive in Manchester, after observing the blue badge on the dashboard of a silver Audi.

Khan, who was caught with the permit displayed in a vehicle parked in North George Street on 13 November, was convicted of fraud by false representation and ordered to pay £512 in fines and costs at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Salford City Council's Barbara Bentham said the council was determined to see through its promise to crack down on blue badge fraud.

Wardens patrolling the streets of Salford last November noticed the badge on the dashboard of the silver Audi which had been parked on double yellow lines.

When they processed the name on the badge, they found it belonged to a woman who had died the previous year.

Crackdown

Bentham said: "The fraudulent misuse of badges means that sometimes disabled bays are not available and those who are in genuine need of parking closer to facilities, or wider spaces to get in out of wheelchairs, are not able to do so."

The city council uses spot checks, data-sharing of lost, stolen and revoked badges, and public reporting, to enforce the blue badge scheme.

More than 400,000 people in the north-west of England hold one of the permits.

It is a criminal offence under the Road Traffic Act to misuse a blue badge.