Today marks 18 years since BBFI -The National Agency for Blue Badge Fraud Investigations first opened its doors, and I wanted to take a moment to mark it with the partners, clients, supporters and of course wider sector who’ve been part of the journey.
Back in 2008, enforcement of the Blue Badge scheme was virtually non-existent. Fraud went largely unchecked, and genuine disabled motorists paid the price for it. Eighteen years on, our work has made a real difference not only for the disabled drivers whose badges we help protect, but also for the communities and local authorities we partner with who take fraud and theft seriously. Along the way, our passion for this issue has taken us well beyond the courtroom: we advised on the passage of the Disabled Persons Parking Badges Act 2013 and the guidance notes that assisted, we advised on the specification for the enforcement element of the BBIS (later renamed the manage blue badges MBB database). We’ve delivered investigation and case preparation services to almost 30 Local Councils including the biggest Councils by revenue, and we’ve trained and set up many more
We’ve won awards, we’ve advocated loudly about the issue with features with the BBC, ITV, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times and many more. We’ve even worked with the London Assembly on a motion we helped bring forward that saw Blue Badge theft raised in the House of Commons. Our work in these areas continues, and we’ll have more updates across the coming months.
That being said, after eighteen years, it’s just as important to be honest about how much is still left to do! Enforcement remains patchy across the country, meaning there are multitudes of parking spaces genuine badge holders still don’t get to use, and the rise of increasingly accurate fake badges threatens to become a momentous problem if not tackled head on. Those are some of the gaps we’re still here to close, and we hope you’ll join us in this fight.
None of the progress we have made happens without the local authorities who trust us to investigate, the courts who see these cases through, and the wider community who understand why this work matters. Thank you for being part of that – and for staying with us as we push for the consistent, nationwide enforcement this scheme still needs.
We’ve just reached maturity. Here’s to the next chapter…
