Owner of Havant grocery store sweats on licence after stolen Blue Badge crime
The owner of a grocery store was forced to sweat on his licence after the council launched a probe following his Blue Badge crime, as reported by The News.
Keerthikaran Chandrasegaram, who owns Family Shopper in Havant, saw his business thrown into jeopardy when Havant Borough Council looked into whether his Blue Badge crime had amounted to a breach of his business terms - before concluding he could keep his licence.
The business owner’s shop was thrust into the spotlight after he was punished at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court for using a stolen disabled badge so he could park for free in Portsmouth. The court heard he parked his Range Rover in a pay and display area less than three metres away from a parking meter in Station Street but opted not to pay.
Chandrasegaram, of Wield Close, was caught by an enforcement officer on November 24 just after 2pm who noticed the Blue Badge, issued from a London authority in Barnet, had expired months earlier and been cancelled after it was stolen in 2021.
After a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) had been issued the defendant returned to his car and openly declared it was an “old badge” that he claimed belonged to his aunty.
He subsequently attended the council’s civic offices for an interview where he insisted he was there to “tell the truth”, the court heard. He told the officer he found the badge buried in a book his four-year-old son had found near some bins when they were in London.
But suspicions over the veracity of his story continued. “The defendant then made a comment about a stall selling books, before returning to his original claim that the badge was found in a book left next to a litter bin,” the officer said in a statement read out to court.
The defendant went on to claim he had gone to the bank to pay in business accounts but could not get his Ringo parking app to work and “didn’t want to risk getting a parking fine so instead displayed the badge”.
The officer added: “The defendant then claims that he believed it was a 'parking permit' and that’s why he kept it, however goes on to admit he knew it was an expired disabled badge and he had looked at the woman's picture on the back of the badge, which also contains a warning in bold red font advising that misuse of the badge is a criminal offence. He goes on to say that he had placed the timeclock over the badge to conceal the expiry date when he was using it.”
After initially claiming he had found the badge a couple of months ago, the defendant then stated it actually may have been “between six and seven months ago”, as his story was again cast into doubt.
“He attempted to state that he was unaware of the correct rules of use, however undermines this by admitting he knew he should not be using someone else's badge to get free parking,” the officer said in his statement.
“He remains adamant throughout the interview that this is the only time he has ever misused the badge. However, shortly after this admits to having used the badge 'three or four times'.”
Chandrasegaram finally came clean during his appearance at court where he admitted a charge of misuse of a disabled badge before he was fined £666, told to pay a victim surcharge of £266 and costs of 516.10.
A Havant Borough Council spokesperson, speaking of its probe into the business owner, said: “As there has been no breach of The Licensing Act 2003 we will not be withdrawing the license. Some research was undertaken as to what offense had been committed in the neighbouring authority to determine if any breaches to the license had been made.”