An 11-year-old has been awarded a silver Blue Peter badge for an idea that will allow half a million children to start using their badges again to get into tourist attractions around Britain.
The long-running BBC children’s show was forced in March to suspend its scheme allowing badge-winners free entry to 200 attractions after it emerged that parents were snapping up second-hand badges on the eBay auction website. The badges, giving access to places such as London Zoo, Legoland and the Eden Project, fetched as much as £100.
The BBC announced today that it was introducing ID cards to stop people “defrauding the system”. The cards will feature the badge-winner’s name and a Blue Peter ship hologram and will expire on the badge-holder’s 16th birthday.
The cards were the idea of Helen Jenkins, an 11-year-old Blue Peter fan who wrote to the show. Richard Marson, the Blue Peter editor, said: “On Blue Peter many of the best ideas come directly from the audience and this was no exception. After we broke news of the suspension, Helen wrote to us suggesting a card and even included a prototype design.
“As a result, she has won her silver badge and really helped all the genuine Blue Peter badge winners out there who have been so upset at the suspension.”
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New recipients will automatically be sent a card. Previous badge holders will have to fill in a form on the Blue Peter website.
Blue Peter also announced the introduction of a new purple badge which will be introduced in September. Each month 12 young viewers will be chosen as “Team Players” and will have the chance to spend a day with the Blue Peter team, testing ideas and giving their opinions on the content of the show.