Two drivers fined for Blue Badge parking fraud

Two women have been fined after they were caught using other people's Blue Badges to park in York city centre.

Ela Guneri, 20, from Bedford, was fined after parking in a disabled space in Castle car park using a badge which had been reported as stolen.

When interviewed under caution, Guneri said she had found the badge discarded in York, where she is a university student, and believed displaying it on the dashboard would enable the badge holder to see it and claim it back.

Sara Knaggs, 49, from York, was fined after using a relative's badge to park fraudulently in a restricted parking zone on The Stonebow.

Guneri was ordered to pay a total of £856 by York Magistrates' Court on 5 February after pleading guilty to the offence of the wrongful use of a disabled person's badge.

Knaggs was also interviewed under caution after she lied to a parking enforcement officer that the badge belonged to her before using abusive language and driving off.

She later admitted it was a relative's badge and claimed she had dropped them off before driving to The Stonebow to go shopping.

Knaggs, of Woodlea Avenue, was ordered to pay £1,200 by the same court on 11 December after she failed to attend and was found guilty of the same offence.

Since 2020, City of York Council has completed 128 investigations into Blue Badge misuse with fraud identified in 91 cases, and nine people have been prosecuted.

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