The black market

The lazy-minded might think the theft of a blue badge from a 12-year-old boy is a victimless crime. After all, how hard is it to replace a parking permit?

But for Zac Bennett the impact is huge. The loss of his disabled badge makes everyday life, hospital appointments and visits to friends a costly nightmare for his family.

But what happened to this much-loved young man is hardly unique or even unusual. There are about 360,000 blue badges held by disabled people in the South East and the number of thefts of these important documents has trebled in the last three years.

The documents are often sold illicitly, often for hundreds of pounds to people who want to dodge parking tickets and get an easy ride in our congested towns and car parks.

Local authorities face a constant battle, with notable cases including a family in Bath, who used a grandmother’s blue badge as a free pass, and 50 drivers caught using blue badges illegally by Ealing council in the past 12 months.

But whether from petty crooks looking for some easy money or bigoted loudmouths wanting to vent some spleen, people with disabilities have always been seen as easy targets for crime and abuse.

Research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, published last month, found disabled young people are more likely to be victims of crime, while across the country, the number of prosecutions for disability hate crimes has surged by 40% to 941 in 2015/16 – up from 666 the previous year.

More needs to be done to protect these people.