A CRACKDOWN has been launched in Sunderland to stop able-bodied drivers parking in bays reserved for the disabled.

Traders, disabled groups and council officials are concerned that some motorists are abusing disabled parking badges when they visit the shops.

The traditional orange badge issued to genuinely disabled drivers is being replaced by a blue European badge.

Yesterday, Sunderland City Centre's Blue Badge Action Group staged an awareness day to highlight the parking problem and tell people about the new badge.

Leaflets will be handed out by traffic wardens over the coming weeks and will be followed by a crackdown on illegal badge use.

A recent check found six being misused in the space of four hours in the city centre.

City centre manager Chris Rawlinson, who coordinates the action group, posed for photographs in the stocks to illustrate the fact that badge abuse poses problems for truly disabled drivers.

She said: "An event like this is good news for genuine badge holders.

"It serves not only to make people aware of the problems facing the disabled, but also to ask people to examine their consciences.''

Andy Morris, of Sunderland City Council environment department, said: "We receive numerous complaints from businesses and the public about the abuse of the system and feel this detracts from the important legitimate use by disabled people."