Emily Davis, 21, outside Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court (Picture: Portsmouth News/Solent News & Photo Agency UK)

A young motorist caught parking with her dead grandmother’s blue badge told investigators she was ‘using it in her honour’.

Emily Davis, 21, was stopped while using the disabled person’s badge to park in her Mini One in St George’s Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Quizzed by a Portsmouth City Council investigator she first claimed her grandmother was shopping nearby.

But in truth, her grandmother Elizabeth Davis died in September 2014 – nearly a year before Davis was caught.


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Now she has been fined £750 with an extra £360.20 to pay on top in costs.



Jenny Ager, prosecuting, told how on August 12 last year Davis said she had driven down from London and dropped off her nan.

Ms Ager said: ‘She said “it’s my nan’s badge, she’s shopping, I just dropped her off”.’

Davis repeated this three times, Ms Ager said.

When confronted with the truth, Davis admitted: ‘Yes I’m lying, I should know better – I used to work in a custody suite.’

The motorist claimed she was using the badge in her grandmother’s honour (Picture: Portsmouth City Council/Solent News & Photo Agency UK)

She added: ‘I was using it in her honour.

‘If Gunwharf wasn’t so expensive I wouldn’t have done it.’

Ms Ager said Davis also admitted having enough cash to pay for the on-street pay-and-display parking space she had used.

In an interview with city council investigators on September 18, Davis acknowledged she had no entitlement to use the badge.

The badge, issued by West Sussex County Council, had been cancelled after her grandmother’s death.

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Davis, who wept in the dock at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court, said: ‘I’ve never done anything illegal in my car, no parking things that have gone against me.

‘I’ve never parked in inappropriate places. I’ve never used the badge before, it was the first time I’ve had it. I’ve learned a huge lesson between now and August, I’ve regretted every moment of it.

‘I’m very sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused.’

Davis must also pay a £75 victim surcharge, meaning she pays £1,121.20 in total.