A bungling disability surveyor working for Harrow Council has been caught using a bogus disabled blue badge – whilst parking outside the borough's fraud department.
Michael Benjamin, was entrusted to make sure council homes were suitable for disabled tenants in his job as an aids and adaptation surveyor but was given the push after bosses found he was illegally using the pass to get free parking.
The 40-year-old, from Danemead Grove, Northolt, told police he bought the fake off a friend for £150 and had been using it to park for work and at home for 18 months.
He was finally caught, however, when he parked his grey Suzuki outside the Civic Centre in Station Road, Harrow, in January, where fraud officers based at the site spotted him.
His contract was terminated immediately and on Friday last week he was hauled in front of Magistrates.
In total he was forced to cough up £1,740 in fines and prosecution costs and Harrow Magistrate Beatrice Clarke said: "You were in a position of trust and this has been a sustained misuse of a European parking badge.
"This was intentional and has caused great harm to the blue badge system."
Speaking after the sentencing Paul Osborn (Con), responsible for communication at the council, said: "This man’s audacity played into our hands.
"In addition to betraying the very people he worked to protect, Mr Benjamin has left himself with a blemished record that will not draw employers towards employing him.
"As a council we are committed to improving support for vulnerable people by safeguarding measures put in place to protect them."
