There's two sides to most stories. Calm down, dear.
On the one hand:
On behalf of this poor old gentleman, who is nearly 80, I would definitely appeal.
He's only had the blue Badge a few minutes and so how can he be expected to use it properly? How can he have had time to even read the guidelines issued with the badge?
On the other hand:
However, don't you think he deserves to lose such an appeal?
Obviously, he hasn't even bothered to read the guidleines issued with the badge. He might be lazy, or he might be forgetful. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he just didn't have time yet to do it.
But he did have time to start
using the badge, didn't he?
The use of a Blue Badge is, like anything else, subject to 'terms and conditions of use'.
It is not a licence to 'park anywhere' and 'park anyhow'. Neither is the ownership or usage of a Blue Badge a licence to 'show the badge upside down' or 'show it sideways on' or use it when it's 'out of date' or 'belonging to someone else' or show it 'back to front'.
I often see people abusing disabled parking spaces and, on behalf of traffic wardens who are paid to do their job, its kinda nice to see them actually doing it.
I guess you think some traffic wardens should ignore the stuff they have been taught and some should just 'use their initiative'? Allowing the latter seems to invite 'corruption entering the equation', doesn't it? Surely we want traffic wardens who strictly adhere to a set of rules, don't we?
And how on earth is the traffic warden to know that the badge belongs to a gentleman 'who is nearly 80'? What has that got to do with it? Is there an age limit clause in the usage rules?
Perhaps if the poor old guy can't even display a Blue Badge properly, it's time he delegated the job to someone else, isn't it?
Is he also incapable of spending 10-20m minutes to read the usage guidelines that are issued with the Blue Badge? Surely not?
So really, he deserves to lose his appeal, doesn't he?
Come on! Pay up and move on with the rest of your life - is another way of looking at it, don't you think?
:-)
About the Blue Badge Scheme