Parking warden who monitored bogus blue badges is sacked... for using his dead mother's blue badge

A traffic warden, whose job it was to monitor improper blue badge use, was sacked for using his dead mother's permit.

Dinesh Patel was dismissed after using his late mother's disabled permit to avoid paying for parking during a shopping trip, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Patel spent two decades working as a parking officer for Harrow Council in northwest London before he was nabbed displaying the blue badge in his vehicle.

He told the council that using the badge had been a "silly mistake".

It then fired him on the basis that he "should be leading by example".

He subsequently sued for unfair dismissal, but a Watford employment tribunal rejected his claim, ruling that Mr Patel knew the blue badge regulations well.

The parking warden began his career for the borough in 2001.

He received a promotion to a senior role in 2019.

This elevated role carried specific duties around disabled parking permits.

These responsibilities included "monitoring, reporting and enforcing the misuse of disabled blue badges".

The job also required "giving evidence to court about criminal and civil breaches".

The tribunal was told that Mr Patel's mother held a valid blue badge which had been due to expire in August 2021.

She died three months before the badge was set to run out.

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After his mother's death, Mr Patel was handed a penalty charge notice for displaying her blue badge.

He initially claimed his aunt had been in the car with him and that she had put the badge on display.

The incident happened during the pandemic - and he said he had not paid for parking because he wasn't sure whether payment was required at that time.

He pleaded guilty at a magistrates' court hearing to wrongful use of a disabled person's badge.

The court imposed a fine before Harrow Council launched internal disciplinary proceedings against him.

A senior manager concluded that given Mr Patel's role and decades of service, he "should be leading by example and ensure that any matters relating to fraud would be disclosed to management at the earliest opportunity".

The council dismissed him because his conduct had raised "serious concerns" over his "honesty and moral principles".

Judge Nathaniel Caiden rejected Mr Patel's claim of unfair dismissal.

Despite expressing his sympathy for the former traffic warden following his mother's death, the judge said Patel's "lengthy service" meant he "should have definitely known better".

The judge added it was fair for managers to conclude that Patel's behaviour after the allegations emerged "was not honest".

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