A Southall man has been ordered to pay nearly £1,500 after being caught using a stolen blue badge.

Manmeet Kapoor of Victory Mews, Southall, appeared at Ealing Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 7 November 2013.

A courtesy car used by Mr Kapoor was spotted by council officers, in May 2013, parked in a restricted bay in Southall. His car was displaying a blue badge that did not belong to him and had been reported as stolen in January 2012.

An observant parking officer had previously noticed the badge being used suspiciously in a different car in Southall. Enquiries with Brent Council confirmed that the badge was stolen and at a later date parking services arranged to have the car towed.

When confronted, Mr Kapoor lied and said that the car was hired and that he found the badge was inside. When he was later interviewed under caution by the council officers he admitted that he had bought the stolen badge for £5.

The badge, issued by Brent Council, had been stolen from a parked car. The thief had broken the lock of the vehicle in order to steal it.

In court, Mr Kapoor pleaded guilty to the misuse of a blue badge. He was fined £500. He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £50, plus the council’s costs of £943.30. The total amount payable is £1,493.20.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for environment and customer services, said: "I am always pleased to see dishonest people like Mr Kapoor punished. The genuine owner of that blue badge not only had to go through the trouble of applying for a replacement badge, they also had to deal with the expense and trouble of repairing their damaged car."

"In my opinion, Mr Kapoor is just as bad as the thief that originally stole the badge and I don’t feel sorry for him at all."

"My sympathies lie with the people that are issued with these badges in the first place who suffer from real mobility problems, but find their parking spaces clogged up by selfish drivers who want to cheat the system."