Some Inverness streets not signposted properly opening Highland Council up to claims
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A disabled councillor has won his legal appeal against a parking fine that could yet leave Highland Council.
The ruling found that some Inverness city centre streets were not properly sign-posted leading Councillor Andrew Jarvie to call on people who have been fined to apply for a refund.
He was given a Parking Charge Notice on Church Street in August of last year which he appealed to the General Regulatory Chamber for Transport Appeals and won.
Cllr Jarvie had previously had a run-in with the council over parking on the same street in 2022 when the wheelchair user was ticketed when parked when his blue badge badge slipped off the dashboard.
Now in the latest spat, the adjudication revealed that the signage was botched because it should have clearly printed that it was a “restricted parking zone” but officials left out the word “parking”.
It gets worse for the council because at the entrances to Union Street and to Fraser Street the signs are the same – stating “restricted zone” but not “restricted parking zone” and there are no signs at the entrance to Baron Taylor’s Street.
So according to the judgement, that means the whole area is improperly signed to prevent parking because in the assessment of tribunal adjudicator Petra Mcfatridge: “The entry sign is not a valid Restricted Parking Zone entry sign.”
The findings in “fact and law” stated: “The entry signs to the Restricted Parking Zone… omits the word ‘parking’ from the upper panel legend, which requires the words ‘Restricted parking zone’ as part of the upper panel content.”
It continued that “the entry sign is not a valid Restricted Parking Zone entry sign” and “the zone was not correctly created and the restrictions thus not correctly indicated”.
She stated: “I have carefully considered all the photographic evidence in the case. In this case the council’s position is that the appellant was parked within a Restricted Parking Zone.
“The council in this case relies on the creation of a Restricted Parking Zone, within which the restrictions indicated on the relevant entry signs would then apply for the entire zone.
“The entry sign shown in the photograph provided by the council does not show the legend ‘restricted parking zone’. It shows the legend ‘Restricted zone’. I have been unable to identify a provision… which would permit the omission of the word ‘parking’ from the legend ‘restricted parking zone’.”
It could lead a wave of appeals by motorists seeking to claw back some of the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid out in fines over the years.
One of the issues is that parking fines have traditionally been disproportionately issued to the area affected – Church Street, Union Street, Queensgate and Fraser Street.
Between 2018 and 2022, Highland Council took in more almost £520,000 from on-street parking in Inverness despite it having just two per cent of the total numbers of bays in the north – at its peak it was 10 per cent of the £1.9 million made.
It looks like the council may appeal the decision.
A local authority spokesperson said: “As the relevant appeal process has not yet concluded it would not be appropriate for the council to comment at this time.
“Enforcement activities will not be suspended as every penalty charge notice (PCN) issued and any appeals are dealt with on their own merits and circumstances.”
Cllr Jarvie said: “Highland Council has truly outdone itself, for eight years it has been dishing out tickets in the city centre to people who they say have parked illegally, only for the council to have put up the wrong signs - which don’t actually say no parking.
“I really didn’t quite know what I had stumbled across when I first challenged the ticket I got, because I parked somewhere that seemed perfectly okay. But the entire no parking zone is completely unenforceable because the council put up the wrong signs.
“It is unambiguous, there is a manual which contains all the acceptable signage, it is uniform across the whole country. All the council had to do was turn to the section of signs that say no parking, and order that one. But it seems the council isn’t even capable of doing that.
“I would urge anyone who has paid a fine for parking in this area of the city since 2016 to contact the council for a refund, because you may well be in the same position.”
In the original version of this report it stated that the parking charge notice was issued in April 2022. This was incorrect. The parking ticket was issued in August 2023 and was not for a disabled parking bay. We regret any confusion.
