A DRIVER has been ordered to pay nearly £1,000 as part of a city-wide crackdown on people misusing blue badges.

Kelly Peters, 57, parked in a disabled space in the Nunnery Lane car park on December 4 and displayed her disabled relative's blue badge, York magistrates heard.

But the relative wasn't with her and therefore Peters wasn't allowed to use the badge to park where she had.

She told a Veritau counter fraud team she had been running late and didn't have any money or a bank card on her. So she had used the badge to avoid paying.

The 57-year-old from Percy Road, Pocklington, pleaded guilty to misuse of a blue badge and was fined £230 and ordered to pay £705 prosecution costs and a £32 statutory surcharge.

City of York Council, who prosecuted Peters, said after the case she had been caught as part of a city-wide crackdown by its officers and Veritau.

On December 4, every blue badge used in the city on December 4 had been checked.

Cllr Denise Craghill, council executive member, said: "By parking illegally in a disabled bay, the defendant could have prevented someone with a genuine need for a blue badge from being able to park there.”