Disabled Brits are resorting to locking their blue badges in padlocked cages due to soaring numbers of thieves breaking into cars and pinching them for profit.
Police in the capital have seen thefts of the badges quadruple in the past decade, alarming new figures show. The problem has gotten so bad, one holder said he had been keeping his in a "blue metal cage with a padlock".
Disabled Londoners believe the issue stems from changing attitudes, and that many believe the badges are a "freebie" afforded to them rather than a necessity. Blue badges allow motorists to park in designated disabled spots, but using them without good reason is considered fraud.
The figures, revealed to the London Assembly following questions from Labour's Unmesh Desai, were described by investigating squad Blue Badge Fraud Investigations (BBFI) as a “a sad reflection on London in 2024”. Meanwhile there are currently 17,643 valid stolen badges in London alone. Figures for other parts of the country were unavailable.
BBFI founder Paul Slowey told The Mirror criminals were sometimes stealing multiple badges a night to then sell on through the black market to people using them to park for free. "Research we did in city centres across the country showed up to 48% of parked cars had blue badges," Paul said.
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"The point is that you and I are paying to park and people are using these stolen badges to do so for free." He said the number of prosecutions against the number of reports showed criminals were "getting away with it".
Some 1,230 badges were stolen in the capital in 2014, the figures show, rising each year with 6,415 last year - a rise of 420%. It works out as 18 Londoners a day.
Victim Mik Scarlet says he has been targeted four times since 2010 and has resorted to keeping his now under lock and key. He told the BBC that being without the badge "shrinks my world", leaving him unable to get around. He said he believed thieves simply saw the badges as free perks. "Your life becomes shrunk down, staying within your local area. It affects your work," he said.
"I travel a lot for work, which I couldn't do. It affects everything." He added that the government should consider re-issuing badges with the holder's photo ID to crack down on people using them fraudulently.
Prosecution statistics obtained by the Department for Transport for blue badge fraud showed London councils prosecuted 454 people in 2021, with half of those alone in Lambeth and Hammersmith & Fulham. Nineteen boroughs saw one or zero prosecutions.
The Metropolitan Police has now reiterated advice for people with the badges to hide them away when possible and park cars in well-lit areas with plenty of CCTV.
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