Inverness Rose Street Rail Park parking fines for blue badge holders slammed by angry Highland father who brands Britannia Parking’s decision ‘ridiculous’
“Ridiculous” car park operators have been slammed for their “bully-boy tactics” after a disabled motorist was fined at a controversial Inverness site.
Father Graham Irvine has hit out at Britannia Parking, which operates the car park in Rose Street Retail Park outside Home Bargains and Iceland, after his daughter and her partner - who has mobility issues - were fined for not paying.
Mr Irvine claims that blue badge holders traditionally didn’t have to pay to park in their designated bays and that there were no warning signs to say this might have changed when his daughter and son-in-law parked there om March 10.
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Despite being parked for only 21 minutes while they nipped into Iceland for some shopping the couple were hit with a £100 parking enforcement notice just days later for stopping in a bay without paying.
Mr Irvine says the fine came as quite a surprise for his daughter and son-in-law - who live elsewhere but revisit the city roughly three times a year - as they had parked at the site in the past without any issue.
And he says it is “ridiculous” that there were no signs at the bay to inform motorists of changes to that - arguing that it is absurd that blue badge holders, who will have restricted mobility, are expected to cross the car park to the main terms and conditions signs to see what the current situation is.
“The last time they used the car park there was no issue, so they didn't think about it, they parked at the door, they got out of the car and they went into Iceland without going to look at the machine to see if they had to pay - because, as I say, previously disabled, rightly so, with blue badges don't pay,” said Mr Irvine.
He continued: “There was nothing at the parking point, the disabled bays to say you now have to pay. If someone went into park and they went to pay and it was normal circumstances, they would see they have to pay.
“A disabled person goes to a parking bay, goes into the shop, goes back in the car, they're not going to go all the way across the car park with whatever mobility issues they've got to see if they have to pay now.
“There should be a big sign on the way in or a sign at the disabled parking bays to say 'charges apply'.
“They should appeal but they said if they pay by Friday to get this discount, they're just going to pay it. But once you pay you can't appeal, you lose the right to appeal, which is another point.”
Mr Irvine says his daughter and son-in-law were not going to appeal the fine - and pay early to get a discounted penalty of £60, but he said he wanted to flag the issue so other blue badge holders don’t get caught out like they were.
He was also furious that blue badge holders were expected to pay, as those who had limited mobility or disabled might have less money available to pay.
“It's just the fact it's bully boy tactics.,” he said. “All it takes is a sign at the disabled bays, 'please note, charges now apply to blue badge holders'. It's ridiculous that that is the case. You can't expect someone with mobility issues to pootle all the way across the car park to a pay booth or machine on the wall to see if they have to pay when they've never had to pay before.
“And the other thing about all this, there's concerns about people vacating the town centre, the shops losing business and closing down. This is contributing to that. People are going to go out of town where they've got adequate parking instead of risking a £100 fine for a 20 minute shop.”
Britannia Parking was approached for comment. We received an automated response saying they would reply within a set period of time. That period elapsed on Friday morning with no response received.
