Woman's parking fines hit £28,000

THE contempt with which some drivers regard officialdom was made blatantly clear yesterday, after it emerged that a woman has racked up parking fines of £28,000 in three years.

The motorist has already paid 12,000 in penalties, but still owes 16,000 in parking fines, Glasgow City Council staff revealed.

Despite her huge bill, officials claim the woman continues to flout regulations on the city’s George Square most days, landing herself with a further 50 fine several times a week.

Kenny Boyle, the council’s parking manager, said that the woman chooses to accrue the penalties, despite suggestions by his officials that she leave her car in a council car park just a few blocks away at a cost of just 1,800 a year.

Mr Boyle said: "It seems this woman would rather pay her fines, than park a little further away from George Square, and it is not for me to say what is going through her mind.

"She is probably our worst offender in terms of the number of fines, but she is by no means the only one of this scale.

"Every week, our office sees dozens of people clutching bundles of fines amounting to hundreds of pounds to pay off - then a week or so later, they are back again."

The council refused to name the motorist, but The Scotsman understands that she lives in an affluent suburb of Glasgow.

The parking fines are believed to have been racked up by two family style cars which the woman drives.

Mr Boyle said that the woman usually parks in one of about 50 designated parking bays on the traffic-packed George Square, which forms part of the council’s pay-and-display parking scheme.

Drivers who use the bays during the day are obliged to purchase a ticket from coin operated machines on the pavements, paying 30p for every ten minutes of parking time. Vehicles can only be left in the same space on George Square for a maximum of two hours. The tickets display the time at which the car must leave the bay, and drivers who overrun the purchased time - or the two hour maximum - are given a parking fine of 50, discounted to 25 if the fine is paid within 14 days.

According to the council, the motorist fails to abide by the pay and display policy, by not purchasing a ticket, so resulting in an automatic fine from the city’s parking attendants, dubbed the "Green Meanies" by frustrated drivers. The council last year collected 4 million in parking fines, resulting in 600,000 profit for the local authority.

Officials say that the woman’s extraordinary story began in October 1999, when parking offences in Glasgow were decriminalised to become civil offences, to help the council co-ordinate all aspects of its traffic management policy. It has been suggested that since the threat of police action and possible arrest was removed, many motorists have felt inclined to cock a snook at the council.

If offenders do not pay their parking fine within 28 days, the driver is sent a reminder, giving a further 28 days to pay. When that period has expired, the charge rises to 75. If the driver continues to ignore the penalty, the council puts the matter in the hands of sheriff officers, who tend to visit the motorist at home to secure payment. The officers have the ultimate sanction of poinding - removing goods to the value of the fine - should offenders refuse to pay.