Carer and disabled nan exposed for lying after Blue Badge used for Portsmouth Christmas shopping spree

A carer and her disabled nan were caught out when the pensioner’s Blue Badge was falsely used to avoid paying for parking during a Christmas shopping spree in Portsmouth.

Tiffany Butt, 27, of Pethick Road, Littlehampton, was busted parking her Audi car on December 21 in Landport View when using the disabled badge in a pay and display bay while her 83-year-old nan was at home, Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard.

The woman was spotted returning to her car with another female and a child before being questioned by an enforcement officer who recorded the incident on his body-worn camera. Butt told the officer her nan was in Primark shopping but when the officer said he would be keeping hold of the Blue Badge after suspecting it was being falsely used, the defendant said: “Why? What if she’s not coming back here.”

Butt was then seen talking frantically on her phone before the enforcement officer called the badge holder. “She stated she was at home in Gosport but had been to Portsmouth with her granddaughter earlier in the day,” Stephen Goodall, senior enforcement officer, said in a statement read out to court.

When the officer then told the defendant the badge was being retained pending further investigation Butt said she had “just found out” her nan had gone home without her. The Officer said CCTV in the area would be checked to confirm if this was true. “At this point the defendant admitted that she had been lying,” Mr Goodall said.

He added: “The defendant was placed under caution, and admitted she parked approximately one and a half hours ago using the badge to obtain free parking whilst Christmas shopping. The defendant stated that she regularly supports the badge holder so the badge is always in her car, however the badge holder was unaware she was using it today.

“The defendant said she didn’t understand the rules of use and had only lied about her nan’s location as she was scared and realised she had done something wrong.”

A telephone call was subsequently made to the badge holder during which she was told Butt had admitted to abusing the badge and asked why she had told the officer she had been in Portsmouth earlier in the day. “The badge holder admitted she hadn’t left her house all day and she had lied about coming to Portsmouth to protect her granddaughter,” Mr Goodall said.

Butt admitted to falsely using a Blue Badge and was fined £342 by magistrates.