Blue Badge abusers hunted in the Bush

Blue badge abusers are being hunted in the streets surrounding Westfield at the moment, as the Telegraph reported last weekend. The article describes a plain clothes blue badge enforcer working in tandem with a uniformed police offficer who lie in wait for people who have no right to be using the blue disabled person's badge, which entitles the user to park close to shops and amenities rather than pay to use car parks, in the act. Then they pounce on their prey, and slap a great big fine on them! (and confiscate the badge)

One of the earliest readers of this blog lives on Macfarlane Road next to the Westfield complex and has long complained, and campaigned, against the impact of that centre on their lives. First they had to put up with the construction phase with lorries thundering around the place and dust wafting over, now they have to contend with their formerly quiet residential street being used as an overflow car park for the biggest shopping centre in western Europe.

Its's fair to say they don't entirely go along with the Council's slogan which proclaims they "put residents first". They feel like they've been put last at the end of a very long line for a very long time.

So I hope this sort of guerilla tactic pays off for them and at least slows down the amount of illegal parking that is blighting their road. And from a personal perspective, with a member of my family being disabled and very much in need of those parking spaces that people who abuse the scheme take up, I think those that abuse the scheme deserve everything they get.