Police and council officers seized two cars in Harlesden suspected of using fake disabled badges.

Brent Council anti-fraud officers teamed up with police to clamp and impound one vehicle from Tavistock Road and another in Harlesden town centre after discovering the falsified blue badges.

The driver of the car towed away from Tavistock Road had taken care to photocopy and laminate the permit, but eagle-eyed officers were not fooled by the fiddle.

PC Hodgkinson-Black, dedicated ward officer for Dudden Hill, arranged for the vehicle to be clamped and towed by council parking enforcement officers after finding the vehicle during a patrol aimed at cracking down on fraudulent use of blue badges in Brent.

She said: “Fake disabled parking badges are something we’re focussing on at the moment and in this case we found someone had just photocopied and laminated the badge.

“We really support disabled users being able to use the dedicated parking spaces that are meant for them and are working to make sure people aren’t playing the system.”

Vehicles towed away by council officers are impounded and released upon payment of a penalty by owners.

Following the patrol four drivers in total had their blue badges seized.

All the motorists also received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for misusing the badges. Four more Penalty Charge Notices were issued to motorists for other parking offences.

PC Hodgkinson-Black, 25, added: “What a lot of people don’t realize is that disabled parking permits are attached to the person and not the car- so if you’re using the car but are not the driver the permit is attached to, you need to pay for parking.”

Blue badges are a part of a national scheme which provides parking concessions to people who have mobility difficulties to allow them to park closer to their home and destination.

Councillor Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “Every time a blue badge is used by someone who it does not belong to, that parking space is taken away from a disabled person who genuinely needs it to park. We know residents and motorists are fed up with the small minority who misuse the scheme, which is why we led this successful operation in Harlesden town centre.

“Officers are trained to spot fakes and alterations, and our Parking and Audit and Investigation Team will relentlessly pursue those suspected of misusing badges.