Free Traffic Legal Advice

You should be able to find when the new badge was issued from the issuing authority.

If the photos are contemporaneous with the theft then it seems unlikely that you did have a replacement by the time of the ticket (or rather your reps). However they are fairly quick in replacement.

The council do seem to state a badge was on display (and both accept and reject the reps) so confusion abounds.

Given there was a short duration between the theft and the ticket it seems unusual if you didn't mention any of this in the informals.

Many authorities will offer discretion on a non BB display, Barnet policy may be on their website somewhere.

I don't know if Barnet will reorder the discount if they reject a formal challenge.

The rejection letter says "........ however, upon investigation, the CEO was authorised by CAFT (Corporate Anti Fraud Team) to issue the PCN as suspected misuse/fraud had occurred in relation to blue badge".

That suggests that something was displayed that the CEO checked with the back-office.

And we still haven't got the car reg so we can see the original photos.

The process to obtain a replacement Blue Badge is done online and centrally. A crime reference number is required if a badge is reported stolen. The applicant would have received an email acknowledgement from .............@notifications.service.gov.uk. That email will be the date and time that the application was submitted. A replacement badge, authorised, printed, posted and delivered within a week is theoretically possible however I would have thought that 8-14 days is more likely.

The rejection letter says "........ however, upon investigation, the CEO was authorised by CAFT (Corporate Anti Fraud Team) to issue the PCN as suspected misuse/fraud had occurred in relation to blue badge".

That suggests that something was displayed that the CEO checked with the back-office.

And we still haven't got the car reg so we can see the original photos.

The process to obtain a replacement Blue Badge is done online and centrally. A crime reference number is required if a badge is reported stolen. The applicant would have received an email acknowledgement from .............@notifications.service.gov.uk. That email will be the date and time that the application was submitted. A replacement badge, authorised, printed, posted and delivered within a week is theoretically possible however I would have thought that 8-14 days is more likely.

PCN AG44843877
VRM LC05RWX


I can’t find the email unfortunately but have found the CRN and police correspondence. The BB did not arrive by the 13 Feb so I spoke to Barnet Council regarding what the supposed fraud/misuse was since I never claimed to present a BB yet the CEO had apparently seen and investigated with CAFT. The whole thing is a mess and has been escalated to a ‘manager’, will call again in a week’s time to hear an update.

To clarify, I stated that the BB was under my mother’s name (who was passenger at the time) and was stolen a week prior and provided the CRN to them as proof. As such, I did not state it was displayed, otherwise why provide a CRN?  (This will hopefully be confirmed once I receive the exact challenge testimony). I assumed that since disabled passenger was present and would’ve had a BB had it not been stolen, we would’ve been parked lawfully and thought the ticket would be cancelled as has happened for many others in many different London Boroughs. Councils usually do not contest when a disabled passenger (in this case, extremely elderly and multiple morbidities) is present. I conveyed this to the Barnet council rep over the phone today also. (I know this does not make me blameless but it also doesn’t justify the erroneous lie stating that the BB was displayed and SEEN by the CEO)

I did not state that the BB was displayed. Barnet council said this in written testimony. The council rep was also confused by this and has therefore escalated it.

I have made a GDPR requesting all information regarding the case and have also emailed the CAFT.

Thanks for your help this far also, I really appreciate it! 

Barnet's response does seem odd. However you are not exactly blameless.

They received a representation from you claiming a badge number X was displayed.

Upon enquiring they discovered badge X was issued to someone other than you and had been reported stolen. If none of that was made to clear to them it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable that misuse was suspected.

It may be useful to ask for the CEOs notes.