A clampdown on the fraudulent use of blue badges is kicking off in Havering.

The misuse of disabled parking badges costs the council around £218,000 a year.

Types of common fraud include forgeries in the form of scans or photocopies, selling on lost or stolen badges, using one when the person who was issued it has died, or faking and exaggerating a disability to get one.

Civil enforcement officers at Havering Council, special investigators at BBFI and the police will all be working on the scheme to step up enforcement action.

Havering’s cabinet member for environment, Cllr Osman Dervish, said: “The deliberate misuse of a blue badge deprives residents in genuine need and makes life very difficult for them and their families, who have valid badges.

“Sadly, right now, there are people who are parking in a disabled parking bay in our borough when they don’t have the right to and are using a blue badge that doesn’t belong to them.

“We also encourage residents that reporting a misuse of a blue badge can only help to make it fairer for those in our community who genuinely need it to have a better quality of life.”