Blue Badge update could see crackdown on millions of drivers to prevent parking fraud

This record high is an increase of eight per cent compared to a year earlier, with 5.2 per cent of English people having the permit.

A Blue Badge allows people with disabilities or health conditions to park in areas that are closer to shops and services.

However, experts are now calling on councils to ensure that Blue Badges are not being misused, faked or stolen from drivers who really need them.

The AA has demanded that local authorities tackle the illegitimate use of Blue Badges to "safeguard the deserving users".

Edmund King, president of the organisation, said: "The Blue Badge scheme is a mobility lifeline for millions of legitimate users and their families.

"Our concern is not the absolute number of badges issued but the estimates that up to one in five badges may be used by someone other than the holder or authorised user.

"Fraud is an issue which can include family misuse, use after death, counterfeit badges and theft and resale of badges."

Drivers must apply for a Blue Badge every three years and will face costs of £10 in England and £20 in Scotland, while it is free of charge in Wales.

Before the pandemic, the Government extended the criteria for the permit to include people with non-visible conditions, including Parkinson's and dementia.

Research shows that more than two-fifths of Blue Badges issued in 2024 and 2025 were awarded without drivers being assessed further.

Estimates from the National Fraud Authority stated that the cost of Blue Badge fraud in the UK was around £46million a year in 2011. However, the NFA has since been shuttered by the Home Office, and no recent data exists.

Local authorities have already taken matters into their own hands, including Croydon Council, which slapped seven offenders with costs of around £6,000 in fines, court costs and victim surcharges.

Barking and Dagenham Council also convicted four drivers of illegal Blue Badge use in December last year.

One man in Oxfordshire was convicted of using his grandmother's Blue Badge after she had passed away in September 2025.

In response to demands from the AA, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport said councils had been given "improved powers" to crack down on fraud and could work with the police.

Similarly, the Local Government Association said it was vital that people misusing Blue Badges should be caught.

A spokesperson continued, saying: "Although the vast majority of badges are used correctly, there is a small minority who fraudulently use other people's, either to save money by parking in disabled bays or through laziness, depriving someone with a genuine need.

"To help councils win the fight against Blue Badge fraud, residents must keep tipping councils off about people they suspect are illegally using a badge, bearing in mind people’s need for a badge might not be obvious."