Blue Badge holders face £1,000 fine and it being 'confiscated' in crackdown

Blue Badge holders have been warned they could be hit with a £1,000 fine for a parking mistake. The government has warned A Blue Badgeis intended for on-street parking only - so off-street car parks, such as those provided by shopping centres, hospitals OR supermarkets are covered by separate rules.

It warned: "You must use the Blue Badge properly. The badge and its concessions are for your use only. It is a criminal offence for you or anyone else to misuse the badge. Doing so could lead to a £1,000 fine and confiscation of the badge. Making sure that the scheme is not abused will benefit genuine badge holders, such as yourself. If you are using the parking concessions as a passenger, it is your responsibility to make sure that the driver is aware of all the rules set out in this guidance."

It added: "You must never give the badge to friends or family to allow them to have the benefit of the parking concessions. You must never use a copied badge to park or try to change the details on a badge. The badge remains the property of the issuing local council. They can ask for the badge to be returned if it is being misused."

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You must never give the badge to friends or family to allow them to park for free, even if they are visiting you. You should not use the badge to allow non-disabled people to take advantage of the benefits while you sit in the car. It’s a criminal offence to misuse a badge. This includes people other than the badge holder taking advantage of the parking concessions provided under the scheme.

The government explained: "The badge is for your use and benefit only. It must only be displayed if you are travelling in the vehicle as a driver or passenger, or if someone is collecting you or dropping you off and needs to park at the place where you are being collected or dropped.

"Don’t allow other people to use the badge to do something on your behalf, such as shopping or collecting something for you."