A junior lawyer has been suspended after she used someone else’s blue badge to park her Mercedes in a disabled bay near her office.
A disciplinary tribunal heard how Nina Koushi lied when quizzed over who the badge belonged to.
She initially said it belonged to her father - before changing her story and saying “actually it's my friend's dad... I don't know his name”.
Koushi, who had only qualified just months earlier, later owned up but said she “didn't know it was fraud” and had only used the badge as it was “left in my car by a mutual friend”.
The tribunal heard Koushi was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in early September 2019 and was working as an associate solicitor at McMillan Williams Solicitors Limited (MWSL).
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She had arrived late for work at the MWSL offices in Ealing, London, in mid-November and temporarily parked in a space allocated to the firm.
When she moved her car later, she parked in the disabled bay in a “moment of panic” as she couldn't find a spot and “needed to get back to the office”.
Koushi was spotted after fraud investigator, Steven Cook, and a parking officer noticed her white Mercedes in the disabled bay.
They said the badge they found was issued to an “AN... born in 1957” and had been cancelled after the owner reported it lost.
Koushi said: "I park on Mattock Lane every day. I have a pay by phone account and pay £4.00 per day.
"I only used [the disabled space] today because the badge was left in my car by a mutual friend. I wasn't aware I wasn't allowed to use it.
"I am a solicitor and an officer of the court and if I knew I couldn't use it, I wouldn't absolutely have used it, as I wouldn't put my legal career in jeopardy. I didn't know it was fraud."
Paul Housego, chair of the disciplinary tribunal, suspended her for six months and said her actions "could have denied someone with a disabled person's badge from using the parking space on that afternoon".
Koushi was previously summoned to Ealing Magistrates' Court and admitted using a disabled badge with intent to deceive.
She was ordered to pay costs of £2,300.
