A dead man’s blue badge was fraudulently used by his son to park on double yellow lines in Chester city centre .

Guissepe Malanga, 56, of Moorcroft Avenue, Boughton , Chester, has been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling more than £1,300 after he was caught by a council traffic warden.

Valid disabled blue badge holders are permitted to park on double yellow lines for a maximum of three hours.

Cheshire West & Chester Council
Cheshire West & Chester Council

A council enforcement officer approached Malanga’s vehicle parked on double yellow lines in St Werburgh Street on September 19, 2016, at 2.15pm where he observed the time clock on the badge was set to 10.30am.

The officer also noticed the name on the badge Armando Malanga did not match with the name ‘Guissepe’ given by a female passenger, while Malanga was away from his vehicle visiting the NatWest bank.

And the officer recognised the photograph of the badge holder as a well-known male who had died some months ago. Subsequent investigations confirmed Armando Malanga had passed away on February 5, 2016, and the badge should have been returned to the council.

Chester Magistrates Court
Chester Magistrates Court

At Chester Magistrates Court , Malanga was fined £250 and ordered to pay full costs of £1,076 along with a victim surcharge of £30 – a total of £1,356.

Maria Byrne, director of place operations at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “This successful prosecution shows that we are committed to preserving the integrity of the disabled blue badge scheme and will take appropriate action against people who abuse and misuse the scheme.

“Blue badge misuse is a serious crime that prevents people who genuinely have a disability from being able to find a suitable space to park.”