Student used dad’s blue badge
A STUDENT used his father’s blue badge to park in a disabled bay so he could to get to an exam in time.
Soroush Emani, 19, from Heaton Mersey, parked a white Audi illegally on Sidney Street, close to Manchester Metropolitan University.
He was spotted placing a disabled parking badge on the dashboard before walking away towards Oxford Road.
The student was stopped by a parking enforcement officer who had seen him park the car.
Manchester magistrates’ court heard that the parking badge belongs to Emani’s father, who could now lose the permit as a result of his son’s actions.
Emani, who represented himself in court, apologised to magistrates and said: “I have never used the badge without my dad, I’ve always used it with him.
“It’s not about the money, it’s because all the normal bays were full and all the disabled bays were empty.
“I was just going to use it for the exam and then not use it again.”
Prosecutor Lisa McCann told the court the defendant claimed that he did not know that it was an offence to use the badge if you are not with a disabled person.
Emani, of Didsbury Road, pleaded guilty to unlawfully using a disabled person’s badge.
He was fined £150 by magistrates who ordered him to pay £245 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.