BLUE Badges have been confiscated from 13 people in Basingstoke during a crackdown on fraudulent use of disabled parking bays.

Hampshire County Council confiscated the passes during the operation in Basingstoke, Andover, Aldershot, Farnborough and Havant, including one owned by a person who had died.

In total, almost 49 (almost 10 per cent) of over 500 badges inspected were taken by the council because they were being used fraudulently.

In Basingstoke, the council found that five badges had been misused, six had expired, one had been lost or cancelled and one person was using the badge of a dead person.

It is a criminal offence for someone to use a badge that does not belong to them, to alter a badge, create a copy of a badge, to use an expired badge and to commit fraud relating to the use of a Blue Badge.

As well as receiving penalty charge notices, badge holders also had their badges confiscated and received formal warnings.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Roy Perry, said: “As the issuing authority for Blue Badges in Hampshire, it is important that we take action against people misusing Blue Badges.

“By carrying out enforcement operations such as these, our main objective is to make people aware that Blue Badge misuse is not a victimless crime.

“Drivers, who are misusing or abusing the system, are taking spaces away from those who genuinely need them. Residents with disabilities rely on Blue Badges to provide essential access to the places they need to go, and we will continue to pursue those who deliberately put disabled people at a disadvantage by flouting the law.”

He added: “My twin brother spent the last 12 months of his life confined to a wheelchair. For the most part he accepted that with equanimity and a good deal of humour.

“However, the one thing that really got him angry was un-entitled people using a disabled bay, often excusing themselves they were only going to be a couple of minutes. I have never forgotten just how important those bays are to people with disabilities.”