Driver who used mum's blue badge in Shrewsbury must pay nearly £4k

The council said it had brought the prosecution because such offences had "proliferated"

A woman who used her mother's blue badge to illegally park in a disabled bay and then challenged the fine has been ordered to pay nearly £4,000.

Chloe Norris, 29, was seen by a traffic warden parking at Shoplatch in Shrewsbury town centre on 5 January, Telford Magistrates' Court heard.

The warden thought she had "no obvious sign of disability" when she got out of a Mini and "appeared very mobile".

There had been a spike in such incidents, the prosecutor said.

Mike Davies, acting on behalf of Shropshire Council, told the court the warden's suspicions led him to inspect the blue badge on the car's dashboard, with the year of birth showing as 1966, which would have put Norris in her late 50s.

The warden, the hearing was informed, then contacted the council to confirm the badge holder's identity. The local authority in turn contacted the registered owner who said she was at work in Wem, the court heard.

Based on this information, a fixed penalty notice was issued.

But about half an hour later, the traffic officer, who was around the corner from the scene, was approached by Norris who pulled up in the car.

On being asked whether he had issued the notice, he confirmed he had and inquired whether it was her blue badge, with Norris saying it was before driving off, the court heard.

Norris later appealed against the notice, saying she was "completely in shock" to find the ticket on the car given her blue badge was clearly visible, Mr Davies said.

When the council provided evidence it was not hers, Norris changed tack and claimed she had been picking up a prescription for her mother, he explained.

But Mr Davies told the court blue badges could only be used when the registered holder was in the vehicle. He added it would not have taken an hour and a half to collect a prescription.

'Proliferated'

"The reason this prosecution was brought is that these types of offences have proliferated," Mr Davies told the court.

"If somebody is occupying a blue badge space they are not legitimately entitled to use, they are displacing someone who is entitled from being able to use that space."

He added: "[Norris] had an opportunity to say to the officer that it wasn't hers. She then decided to challenge the fixed penalty notice so the decision to prosecute was then taken."

Norris, of Station Road, Wem, was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine, the council's costs of £2,432 and a £400 surcharge.

She did not appear at Monday's hearing which went ahead in her absence.

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