Blue Badge enforcement No more excuses Louise Parfitt finds out more about a recent local authority partnership to target those abusing the Blue Badge scheme in Bridgend, Wales ts a bustling, midweek market day in August in Bridgend, and people are busy browsing, buying and breakfasting. All looks well, but the town, in common with many others, has a growing problem. Thats why Stephen Goodall, senior investigations officer at Portsmouth City Council, is here with a team from Bridgend County Borough Council. Their remit: to crack down on the rising tide of Blue Badge abuse. But why is Portsmouth involved in an operation by a Welsh local authority? Its a connection that goes back to 2016, when Goodall was asked by the Welsh governments Minister for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates, to present a series of seminars on tackling Blue Badge abuse. At the time, Welsh local authorities did not actively conduct any form of Blue Badge enforcement, but the Welsh government had recently agreed to develop policy for it. Goodalls success in tackling such abuse in Portsmouth over the past decade has led him to train and advise other local authorities. He delivered workshops across Wales, highlighting everything from training civil enforcement officers (CEOs) to putting together a prosecution. Bridgend council attended one I Many people just dont understand the impact that Blue Badge misuse has for the genuine badge holders or the nancial impact it has on the local authority of the seminars and then asked Goodall for support. Portsmouth provided the benefit of its experience to help us tackle this problem, says Bridgend council deputy leader Hywel Williams. Checks were carried out over a two-day period to gauge levels of misuse and engage with drivers to give advice. Two days of action The operation was planned around the busiest days in Bridgend and neighbouring Porthcawl. Goodall and a colleague joined one of Bridgends CEOs, and a fraud investigator, to target the busiest areas. They harnessed the Bridgend teams local knowledge and the Portsmouth teams experience of the parking behaviours of those who misuse the scheme. Bridgend was behind the whole thing, Goodall says. But, aside from issuing a penalty charge notice for things such as the use of an expired badge, there are limited actions that its CEOs can take because they arent trained in roadside intervention. My colleague and I were acting under delegated authority: weve got powers to place people under caution at the roadside and retain the badges. Over the two days, the team checked hundreds of badges. There were 68 interventions and the team retained 20 badges. The results were an eye opener for Bridgend, although Goodall was not surprised. This level of abuse is in keeping with every area that Ive ever been to, he says. Most of the misuse was by a relative or carer of the Blue Badge holder, either to avoid paying for parking or for the convenience of parking close to their destination. The excuse was that they didnt know they werent allowed to use the 24 britishparking.co.uk PN Nov19 pp24-25 Blue Badge.indd 24 24/10/2019 12:21