Two bank workers were caught illegally using blue badges to park in spaces reserved for the disabled during a crackdown.
They were among eight motorists taken to court and fined in south London after being caught misusing the permits which actually belonged to friends or relatives.
The permits can only be used legally if the disabled person is either driving the vehicle or a passenger being dropped-off or picked-up in that location.
But the fraudsters were caught parking their own vehicles in disabled spaces.
In one case the genuine holder of the Blue Badge was hundreds of miles away in Northern Ireland while his daughter Angeli McDowall, 37, of Tooting Bec, south London, used the badge to go shopping in nearby Clapham Junction.
Bank worker Jashree Parmar, 61, of West Norwood, south London, was using her mother’s badge to occupy a disabled parking space in Balham, while working in the town centre.
She pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay £1,230 in fines and court costs, along the £165 it cost to recover her car after it was towed away.
Another bank worker, Saima Ahmed, 38, had to pay the same amount in fines, costs and tow charges after her car was removed from a road in Balham.
Ahemd, of Norbury, south London, was using her mother’s badge to park near work.
Hospital worker Barrington Fairman-Campbell, 58, of Thornton Heath, south London, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay fines and costs of £1,230 plus £165 tow charge after using his wife’s badge to park in Tooting while working at St George’s Hospital.
Tube worker Ganett Phiri, 40, of Coulsdon, south London, was using a friend’s badge to park.
He pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay £1,230 on top of the tow charge of £165.
Fadila Ramzi, 60, of Tooting, was regularly using her husband’s badge to park in Ramsden Road in Balham while shopping.
She was told to pay £670 in fines and costs along with the £165 tow charge.
Shop worker Babar Ahmad, 38, of Mitcham, south London, was using his father’s badge to park near his workplace and was ordered to pay £1,530 on top of the £165 tow charge.
Rampall Raj, of Hounslow, west London, was fined and ordered to pay court costs of £933 after being caught using his mother’s badge to park in Hampton Wick following a tip off from a member of the public.
They were all taken to court by Wandsworth Council and fined by magistrates.
Wandsworth Council’s transport spokesman, Cllr Jonathan Cook, said: “Sadly there are many people who try to fiddle the system in this way. The blue badge scheme exists to help disabled people get out and about, drive to work, visit friends or go shopping.
“It was not invented to give their relatives a passport to free parking nor allow selfish able-bodied people to use designated spaces genuinely needed by drivers who have a disability.”
All the cases were heard at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court in Battersea.
