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Disabled Ron left facing fine for an upside down badge

3:30pm Friday 12th June 2009


A 76-year-old man recovering from spinal surgery was given a parking fine after putting his disabled badge the wrong way up in the windscreen of his car.

Ron Padwick, of Worcester Road, Burford, Tenbury, who is also recovering from cancer, had taken a drive into Leominster and parked in Corn Square with his disabled blue badge in the windscreen.

But when he returned, Mr Padwick found a fixed penalty ticket that will cost him £35, or £70 if it is not paid within two weeks.

According to the note left by ‘Civil Enforcement Officer number 15’, he was not displaying his badge in the prescribed manner.

Mr Padwick’s crime was to have displayed his badge upside down.

Mr Padwick said: “I could not believe it and am certainly planning to appeal.

“I admit that I made a mistake but, in the circumstances, it would have been appropriate to issue a warning, which is within the power of the warden, rather than the fixed penalty fine.

“It was absolutely clear that I had a legitimate disabled parking badge and the car was correctly parked.

“In the rush, I had put the badge the wrong way up inside the screen. It was not 100 per cent correct but to impose a fine in these circumstances does seem heavy handed.

“I shall appeal but it has to be in writing as you cannot call these people.”

Mr Padwick, who has trouble walking, was issued with a disabled badge nine months ago and had major spinal surgery at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham this year.

Alison Cook, of Herefordshire Council, said: “All blue badge holders are requested to display their badge the right way around so that the expiry date is visible.

“Instructions on how to display the badge are clearly laid out in the terms and conditions of use issued with the pass.

"If it is not displayed properly, this may result in a penalty notice being issued.

“Regarding the case under discussion, the badge was displayed the wrong way around, which is why a penalty notice was issued.”


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Tulstar, Worcester says...
3:53pm Fri 12 Jun 09

Oh for gods sake whatever next!!!!

The poor man obviously didn't realise that he'd displayed it incorrectly.

WHY ON EARTH couldn't a warning just have been put on his windscreen, advising him to ensure that it's displayed correctly the next time?????

Or, how about asking him to produce his badge to the council (or whoever) within 7 days just to show that it was all in order? Any honest person would do it straight away.

And if they don't produce it within 7 days, THEN go down the route of issuing a fine - I'm sure their details could be obtained from the DVLA database.

Jobsworths.


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Logik, Worcester says...
4:13pm Fri 12 Jun 09

Are we allowed to tell Alison Cook and Civil Enforcement Officer No.15 just where they should put that ticket; preferably where the sun don't shine.

Muppets like these are a disgrace to the human race.

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BarryB, Worcester says...
4:41pm Fri 12 Jun 09

You nasty critical people, why can't you understand that the people who issue these notices can barely read when these cards are displayed the right way round, now, when they are askew or upside down that throw's up a whole new literacy challenge to them.
As far as I know, the test one takes before becoming a parking attendant does not include the ability to read, merely to write - usually in unintelligible scribble.
He/she should be sacked.

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robe.rtm.29 , fethiye turkey says...
4:42pm Fri 12 Jun 09

this jobswirth should be put in charge of the mp expenses these cretins who extort as much money in the name of justice are a disgrace to the people who voted for them lets not let it all die down just because some other upper crust jobsworth says it ok they did not break any rules just bent them a little and says they are sorry i wont do it again

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Tulstar, Worcester says...
4:44pm Fri 12 Jun 09

I think the job training must go something like this:

Trainer: "Here's your jacket, and all the equipment you need. Now, if you could just throw all of your morals and leniency out of that window over there, that would be fantastic"

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TmP, worcester says...
5:21pm Fri 12 Jun 09

Ridiculous lets hope someone in charge sees sense !! well one can hope. A note to ask him to place the correct way up in future should have sufficed where has common sense gone.

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garopt, worcester says...
5:43pm Fri 12 Jun 09

The T & Cs are clearly unfair. There should be a sliding scale of penalty dependant on the angle of misalignment of the disc. Anything over 30 deg from horizontal should attract a penalty of £5 for every 10 deg (or part thereof) of misalignment. 171deg and above carrying a maximum penalty. Each Enforcement Officer should be issued with a spirit level and protractor and be given the appropriate training in the use thereof. Naturally a digital photographic image would need to be produced using a camera mounted on a tripod with spirit level adjustment and the procedure should be photographed by a second E.F. Both photographs would have the accurate time and date stamps incorporated, of course.

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jb, worcester says...
6:23pm Fri 12 Jun 09

Considering the widespread abuse and fraudulent use of these parking permits it's about time these enforcement officers tagetted some of those. Or are they just picking on the 'soft targets' for their performance figures. I agree with one of the previous comments that warning notices should be used and not issue a fine in cases like this. Is there no such thing as common sense or discretion anymore?

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disbelief, wr says...
10:15pm Fri 12 Jun 09

Maybe when they say upside down it means the expiry date was underneath and not visible.............
.that is the offence.

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Bloke, Here says...
12:58pm Mon 15 Jun 09

I'm glad he was fined.
The instructions are clear. You must display your badge in the prescribed manner.

Surely not a difficult instruction to carry out? Especially when it's just a case of checking if it's upside down or not.
Just to chuck it on the dashboard, expect everything to be okay, then bleating about the resulting fine smacks of arrogance to me.
We all have rules to abide by, no matter how 'insignificant' they may seem to you lot, and we all know the penalties for ignoring them.
This chap ignored them and got the punishment he should have known would be coming to him.

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rgdudley, Worcester says...
9:21am Wed 17 Jun 09

If he had the badge teh wrong way up i.e. wasn't showing the expiry date then yes he should get a ticket. If it was the wrong way round i.e. expiry date was shown but upside down then no ticket, the CEO should have used some common sense and turned their head.

@garopt Round me they do take a photo of the blue badge when they issue tickets so there's no dispute later about how its displayed.

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Ron Padwick points to his disabled badge, which may cost him a £35 fine because it was upside down in his car. 092454-1 Ron Padwick points to his disabled badge, which may cost him a £35 fine because it was displayed upside down in his car on a trip to Leominster


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