The sick trade in £150 fake disabled badges

BLUE badge parking permits are a lifeline for the disabled, but today we expose a sick rogue who sells fakes to unscrupulous drivers.

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Nearly three million people rely on the permits to get around but knockoffs are being touted online to drivers who want to secure free parking they are not entitled to.

I met one peddler who bragged that he had warehouse full of permits even offering me a bulk-buy discount. I posed as a buyer after being tipped off about a Facebook ad with a picture of a smiling woman holding a badge priced at £150.

After arranging a meeting on WhatsApp I secretly filmed him boasting about his scam at a McDonald's in Wembley, North London, last week.

The 22-year-old said he was a university graduate who had been selling them as a "side hustle" for six months.

He showed me a badge with Kent County Council's name and promised it was genuine.

The seller pointed at the hologram, saying: "Can you see the way it's shining? That's how you know it's real." It is against the law to sell, forge or misuse a blue badge.

He continued: "This 100% works, you won't get a ticket. Just leave it upwards like this and then you should be good to park anywhere you want.

"The ticket inspector will literally see this and they will just carry on walking past your car.

"I use them for my own car. If this wasn't working then I wouldn't give it to people because they'll end up getting unlimited tickets."

When I asked what I should do if someone said I was not disabled, he replied: "They can't say nothing to you.

"You can have someone in the car, that is usually in the car, that has, like, disability [and] you have to take them somewhere." Asked what happens if someone arrives to park in the same spot who is genuinely disabled, he said: "They see your badge. You got there first. It's first come, first serve always.

"Even me, sometimes I park in the disabled [bay] and I don't even have my badge. I'm just lazy."