Postman uses wife's blue badge

Exclusive: Chris Osuh

July 18, 2009

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A POSTMAN who used his wife's disabled badge on his round has been fined £200 by magistrates.

Able-bodied Robert Grice, 44, of Water Lane, Droylsden, was spotted parking on double yellow lines in Parsonage Gardens, Manchester.

He was yards from the Employment Tribunal building where disability discrimination cases are heard.

He then ran into an office with a bag of mail.

A council enforcement officer inspected Grice's Peugeot he was using to deliver mail and discovered it had a disabled badge issued to Chantel Winterburn.

Grice told the officer that the badge-holder was his wife and claimed he had just dropped her off.

He then confessed to misusing the badge.

He said: "She's not with me, she's at work. I'm using the badge to do my job."

Grice pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court to misusing a disabled badge.

Off-chance

He told the court: "It was the first time I used it. It was on the off-chance and it just happened."

Fining Grice £200 plus £200 costs, Judge Duncan Birrell said the defendant made an 'expensive and very silly error'.

He added: "The abuse of the blue badge scheme undermines public confidence in it.

"As I'm sure you can appreciate, that reflects badly on those people who genuinely need it.

"You have pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and admitted the offence when challenged though it was said you lied, you did a half-hearted way but nonetheless these are matters which the courts regard seriously.

"A further aggravating factor is that you were using this badge to pursue your occupation as an employee of the Post Office which have to say makes it significantly worse in this situation."

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Showing comments 1 to 9 and replies | View All

Rammylad (18/07/2009 at 09:08)

The police would do well to check out the blue badge holders at manchester piccadilly station. Whenever I catch the 7am to London you can be sure there will be 5-10 posh cars all parked in the disabled zones and all with blue badges. However you can also be sure they are all able bodied business men and women. I saw a young 35 year old with quite a figure and pair of pins get out of a silver slk, quite clearly nowt wrong with her to justify a blue badge which would require here to walk another 100 yards and park with the rest of us.

Mad Welsh Scotsman, Cadishead (18/07/2009 at 10:20)

He told the court: "It was the first time I used it. It was on the off-chance and it just happened."

Yeh right!!, the other ones got bells on

Ace , manchester (18/07/2009 at 10:30)

Well Done but people in stores now need targetting for parking on disabled bays now,People in britain dont have any respect for disabled people i saw at least twenty people in different stores abusing disabled car spaces its time people started respecting the fact that disabled people need a little help and disabled spaces are not for easy parking for the abled bodied people. i sawOnce again well done to the parking inspectors getting that blue badge abuser.

john davis, Broughton, Salford (18/07/2009 at 10:32)

exactly rammylad has it right, you should see it at supermarkets too, they park up then run into the store, you should actually use covert camera's to catch these cheats.

Horatio Dogsbody, Flixton (18/07/2009 at 15:11)

In this and several other recent stories involving postmen they have been using their own private cars to deliver the mail.

Why?

Does the Post Office expect them to provide their own transport?
Are they expected to deliver more mail then they can carry in one sack?
Are the postmen too lazy to walk or cycle on their rounds?

The point is they are using their own personal vehicle on their employer's business. Does their vehicle's insurance policy permit that usage? i.e. Are they insured as per the Road Traffic Act? What would happen if they were to be involved in an accident whilst on their round? What is the position if the mail was stolen from the vehicle during the round?

john davis, Broughton, Salford (19/07/2009 at 10:36)

This needs STAMPING out,

Theowolfe (19/07/2009 at 13:04)

"This needs STAMPING out" john davis

Absolutely, this official discrimination against non-disabled people is incompatible with equality.

Jerry Kann, Bramhall (20/07/2009 at 00:10)

First time he's got caught more like.

S P In exile, Tameside (20/07/2009 at 11:10)

Theowolfe......I hope you never need the use of a blue badge if you did I think you would somehow become an hypocrite and sing a different song.

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