The number of stolen Blue Badges for disabled parking has shot up by around 20% in the last year and trebled in the last three years, councils have warned.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said thefts of Blue Badges, which help secure disabled persons accessible parking spaces, went up from 1,756 in 2014 to 2,056 in 2015.
This is the third successive year that thefts have increased with 656 recorded in 2013.
However council chiefs said they were also increasing their prosecutions of Blue Badge scammers, with the number of people caught abusing the scheme having almost trebled in five years. There were 985 successful council prosecutions in 2015 – up from 330 in 2010.
Misuse of a Blue Badge is a criminal offence under the Road Traffic Act 1984, with a maximum fine on conviction of £1,000.
Cllr Martin Tett, LGA transport spokesman, said: ‘The theft of Blue Badges is clearly a crime on the rise and it is alarming that incidents have trebled in just three years.
‘Illegally using a Blue Badge is not a victimless crime. For disabled people, Blue Badges are a vital lifeline that helps them get out and about to visit shops or family and friends. Callous thieves and unscrupulous fraudsters using them illegally are robbing disabled people of this independence.
‘It is important to catch these criminals in the act. To help councils win the fight against Blue Badge fraud, residents must keep tipping us off about people they suspect are illegally using a badge, bearing in mind people's need for a badge might not always be obvious.’
More than two million disabled people use Blue Badges for free parking in pay and display bays and for up to three hours on yellow lines. In London, badge holders are exempt from the congestion charge saving them potentially £2,500 a year.
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