VULNERABLE and invalid residents are becoming the innocent victims of a council crackdown on Blue Badge Fraud, it has been claimed.

Residents said they have been reduced to “hobbling” around city streets while Blue Badge cheats continue to abuse the privilege of having a disabled parking badge.

Councillor Dawn Barnett said some residents had been left prisoners in their own homes because of the loss of their ability to use their own vehicles.

There has been a four-fold increase in the number of Blue Badge applications turned down in Brighton and Hove as well as a significant spike in the number of rejections that have been successfully appealed by disabled residents.

Brighton and Hove City Council say they are targeting offenders rather than Blue Badge holders with badges only withdrawn if they are “persistently misused”.

The authority, along with partners in East Sussex County Council and Sussex Police, received £183,000 in government funding in 2014 to launch a crackdown on Blue Badge fraud. This is said to have cost the region £30 million.

Operation Bluebird, which won a national award, has had notable successes with 91 blue badges confiscated, 97 community resolution orders and 45 prosecutions in its first 18 months alone.

The launch of the crackdown has coincided with a significant increase in Blue Badge rejections, up from 97 in 2013/14 to 445 in 2016/17, even though applications have remained at similar levels, up just five per cent on the 4,598 applications in 2012/13.

A total of 318 appeals have been made since June 2015 with 118 successfully overturning the council’s decision.

Hove resident Peter Coleman said he had use of a Blue Badge for three years until it was abruptly stopped after he was judged to have failed a fitness test.

He unsuccessfully tried to appeal the decision.

The 74-year-old, from Thornhill Close, had a Blue Badge since 2012 which he needed as his intermittent claudication of the knee deteriorated following an aneurysm five years earlier. The claudication means he suffers cramping and pain if he exercises.

He has since had three mini strokes which have made his mobility even worse, he can now only walk around 60 yards unaided without a rest, he told The Argus.

Now to get into town he is driven to the bus stop by his wife Marion and the pair then jump on the bus and “hobble” around town.

He said: “For my fitness test I had to walk down some steps at Hove Town Hall. I walked outside for about 100 yards and I had to stop about three or four times.

“They said I could walk too far.

“It causes a lot of problems, since then I have had three mini strokes. It’s just a problem getting anywhere.”

Conservative Councillor Dawn Barnett said: “I have at least three real major cases in my ward of Blue Badges being taken off deserving people.

“One man had his taken away and now cannot get to the doctors without a taxi.

“One man can’t even walk to the bottom of his garden and back to his house.

“He walked to the bottom of the garden and then he had to sit down before he could walk back.

“If he has to walk in the street and then there’s no seat, what is he supposed to do?

“The car is their lifeline and they are making them prisoners.

“I have seen people park up with Blue Badges outside of the shops and run in. It’s these people they should be going after, not the people who cannot walk.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: “The crackdown on Blue Badge misuse focuses on the offender rather than the Blue Badge holder.

“In the vast majority of cases the Blue Badge is returned to the badge holder promptly. “However, we have the right to permanently withdraw a badge that is being persistently misused.

“Although the Blue Badge applications are extensive and frequently include a face to face assessment by an Independent Mobility Assessor, it is usual for reviews to bring to light new information that the applicant has not disclosed during their initial application. “The applicant would have received a full, written and reasoned response as to why their application was refused and what criteria we have applied.

“We strive to make the reviewing process as accessible and open as possible and we always advise the applicant of their right to a review of the decision.”