Haringey Blue Badge anti-fraud programme awarded national prize

Haringey residents have played a key part in helping us to secure a major award at the 2023 British Parking Awards.

Working with our local community, we have introduced technology that checks Blue Badge parking to see if they those badges are being correctly or fraudulently used.

Haringey is the first council to use this technology and, since launching it last year, fewer Blue Badges are being found to be stolen with routine checks on the street. 

The council has worked hard with residents to see how disabled parking can be improved and, with help from our technology partner, Taranto Systems Limited, the new ideas were put into practice. This also includes a Resident Blue Badge Holder Permit that can be registered to a home address and does not have to be displayed in the car window.

The innovative work that has been carried out between the council and the local community has not gone unnoticed and we scooped a major prize in winning the this year’s Parking Technology Award.

Cllr Seema Chandwani, Cabinet Member for Resident Services & Tackling Inequality, said:

I am delighted that the judges of the prestigious British Parking Awards has have recognised the work we have done with residents to reduce Blue Badge fraud in Haringey.

I want to say a big thank you to all the disabled residents and carers who helped create our Blue Badge Enforcement Policy and support our approach to paperless permits.

Residents have told me of the devastation of being a victim of Blue Badge theft, which often results in a disabled person’s car window being smashed.

Our parking team worked hard with residents and then Taranto to design this award-winning system, which makes Blue Badge parking easier. We will continue to innovate to improve the parking experiences for disabled people in the borough and we will continue to be the leader in this area.

Alongside the work on the Blue Badge checker and the Resident Blue Badge Holder permit, the council has also increased the size of disabled bays to 6.6 metres, removed the £10 replacement fee for stolen Blue Badges, increased anti-fraud operations with the police and allowing Resident Blue Badge Holder Permits to be used on single and double yellow lines.

Blue badge holders can apply for Resident Blue Badge Holder Permit here