Two fined for misusing disabled people’s Blue Badges in York

Student Ela Guneri, 20, was using another person’s Blue Badge on her dashboard in a disabled person’s space in Castle car park, said a City of York Council spokesman.

She claimed to parking enforcement officers she had found it discarded in York and was displaying it in the hope the badge holder would see it and claim it.

Investigations revealed the badge, which had been reported as stolen to the issuing authority, Bedford Borough Council, and to Bedfordshire Police, had been mis-used on at least two other occasions.

Guneri of Queen’s Drive, Bedford, pleaded guilty by letter to wrongful use of a disabled Blue Badge in York.  She was ordered to pay a £80 fine, a statutory surcharge of £32 and costs of £744.70.

Sara Knaggs, 49, of Woodlea Avenue, Acomb, was abusive to a parking officer who asked her about the Blue Badge she was displaying when she parked on a single yellow line in a restricted parking zone in Stonebow, said the spokesman.

She claimed it was her badge, but when interviewed later, said it was a relative’s badge and that she had dropped the relative off in town before driving to and parking in Stonebow where she had gone into a shop.

Ms Knaggs failed to attend York Magistrates Court which found her guilty of the wrongful use of a Blue Badge, and ordered her to pay a fine of £440, a statutory surcharge of £176 and costs of £584.20.