A man has become a criminal at the age of 67 for using his mother’s blue badge – more than a year after she had died. Graham Bird was caught parking his Vauxhall in a disabled bay on Temple Row West in Birmingham city centre.
He accepted what he did was ‘stupid’ but insisted he was not trying to avoid paying. Instead, he argued he was taking some files into work which he could not carry himself but there were no other bays available.
Bird, from All Saints Road, Kings Heath admitted an offence of fraud by false representation. At Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday he was hit with a huge £1,186.02 bill made up of a £300 fine, £766.02 prosecution costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
The offence occurred on November 2 last year. Prosecutor Sheila Abrahams stated that a blue badge inspector from Birmingham City Council spoke to Bird, who confirmed the badge was his mother’s. When asked where she was he replied ‘deceased’. She had in fact passed away on October 18 in 2021, the court was told. Bird also commented to the officer: “I apologise. It’s the first time I have done it.”
Ms Abrahams confirmed he had no previous convictions but argued against a conditional discharge saying: “The fraudulent act was a deliberate offence.”
Bird did not have a solicitor present and represented himself, telling magistrates: “I would rather get it over and done with please, it has been hanging over me for a long time now.”
He added: “First of all I would like to apologise. It wasn’t a question of trying to avoid payment. I’m disabled myself. Within three weeks of that offence I got my own blue badge and I’ve got it now.
“I had it ever since. Basically it was my own fault. I was entitled to a blue badge two to three years before. I was due to have two knee replacements. I was waiting for a couple of years before.
“I didn’t use it. I didn’t apply. It’s my fault. It wasn’t a question of avoiding payment. There was nowhere to park. I had got documents I couldn’t carry. I was only gone 10 minutes.”
Bird added that it was ‘ironic’ that on a different occasion after he had been issued his own blue badge he forgot to display it but only received a £35 ticket despite the fact ‘the car was there all day’. He added: “If I hadn’t have put anything there I would have only got that. I accept it was a stupid thing to do and I apologise.”