'Laziness is not disability' note on blue badge holder's car

The mother of a disabled boy has slammed the "spineless" person who left a nasty note on her car, despite it displaying a valid blue badge. The note accusing Emma Gearing, 26, of "laziness" was left on her car when she was in Maidstone with her son who is fed through his stomach.

The note read: "Using a disabled badge when you don't need it could cost you £2,000." Mrs Gearing described the person as "gutless" and "too quick to judge".

She told the BBC she had parked in the town on Tuesday afternoon while she visited the doctor and waited to pick up her other son from school. When they returned to the car they found the note, she said. It read: "Laziness is not a disability. Using a disabled badge when you don't need it could cost you £2,000 and permanent removal of your badge. Don't take your good health for granted."

The mum-of-two said: "When I saw it I got really upset. They've just assumed it was me but they could have asked me.

"It upset my seven-year-old as well, people shouldn't be allowed to get away with it." Mrs Gearing said she had not received a note before, but had been verbally abused and "blocked in" by other drivers who believed she was pretending to be disabled. "I have to show them the peg in my son's stomach to prove it," she added. The four-year-old uses several pieces of medical equipment for a series of conditions including a heart defect, seizures, and an unsafe swallow.

After putting a picture of the note on Facebook, Mrs Gearing said she hoped the person who wrote it would see the post.

She added: "To the spineless heartless living thing who left this note on my car I hope you can sleep peacefully tonight."

Disability Rights UK deputy chief executive Sue Bott CBE said she recognised the scheme had been abused in the past but it was "not always obvious" why someone would need a blue badge. "They may have a hidden disability or be the parent of a disabled child," she said. "In the last two years the eligibility for a blue badge has been considerably tightened. If someone is using a blue badge now it is because they genuinely need to do so."