MANCHESTER – The city confiscated 70 disability parking placards found being misused in the past 18 months.

The Parking Division collected the expired placards and returned them to the state. But the sheer number suggests a pervasive abuse and fraud of the free parking privilege, Manchester Parking Manager Brandy Stanley said.

One driver displayed a placard that had been issued to a 10-year-old relative. Another displayed an expired placard that was reported lost six months earlier.

Some placards were altered; a parking control officer even found a fake placard hanging from the rear-view mirror, Stanley said.

"There is a lot of abuse," she said yesterday at the first meeting of a committee studying accessible parking in the city. "We do our very best not to tolerate that."

Mayor Frank C. Guinta announced the initiative in connection with Gov. John Lynch proclaiming October as Accessible Parking Awareness Month.

Towns and cities across New Hampshire are taking a closer look. The New Hampshire Legislature will also see bills seeking to study abuse of accessible parking privileges.

Brittany Little, an advocacy coordinator for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Central New England, said New Hampshire grants more walking disability parking privileges than most states. Little, who serves on the city committee studying accessible parking, is supporting the legislation filed for the 2009 session.

When it comes to who gets disability placards, "New Hampshire has pretty lax standards," she said.

Statistics provided yesterday by Stanley show that New Hampshire has more disability placards than Massachusetts, even though the Bay State has roughly 5 million more people.

Stanley said the way New Hampshire law reads, the state Division of Motor Vehicles must present a placard if a driver comes in with a doctor's note that he or she has a walking disability.

By state law, a walking disability must be determined by a licensed physician or podiatrist. The free parking is only allowed if the person who qualifies for a special plate or hanging placard is being transported in the vehicle to or from the parking place. A person convicted of breaking this law is subject to a $250 fine.

Some disabled park in an accessible space even if they do not have a disability plate or placard, and some motorists with placards illegally park in an access aisle space designed to meet the needs of vans with lifts, according to Stanley.

Walking disability placards are good for five years.

The mayor said the new committee would work to educate the public on the importance of accessible parking, help people to apply for disability plates and placards, and target abuse.

Stanley, the parking manager, said it is difficult to say whether Manchester needs more accessible parking.

She said the need is masked by the abuse.