Lancet Jades
03-02-2004, 11:53 PM
Burnt-out car gets parking tickets
JOHN INNES
PARKING WARDENS slapped three tickets on an illegally parked car in Edinburgh - despite the fact the vehicle was a burnt-out wreck.
Enforcers started issuing £60 fines on the car after it was dumped and went up in flames on Lower Gilmore Place.
Locals could not believe their eyes as they watched tickets appear on the car, which does not even have a windscreen.
A spokeswoman for Central Parking System, the private firm that holds the contract to enforce parking regulations in the city, admitted a mistake had been made and blamed a new recruit.
Freddie Purves, 50, who lives nearby, said: "The car is literally a shell. Either a guy’s been unlucky and had his car stolen and then dumped and set on fire, or perhaps it has gone on fire while parked there.
"It has no tyres or windows so it’s not as if anyone could drive it away. It got a parking ticket on Thursday and I watched the warden put it on." The mechanic added: "I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I think they’ll ticket anyone."
To date, three tickets have been issued by parking wardens since the car went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday, 19 February.
Allan Cran, a hotelier based in Gilmore Place, said the ticketing incident did not surprise him. Mr Cran was a member of the Residents Parking Independents, which fought the city council elections after claiming voters were disillusioned by the Capital’s parking permit system and the Enforcers’ policy on ticketing.
He said: "There are a lot of them around giving out tickets when parents are dropping off children at Darroch school."
A council spokeswoman said: "We have the car on our system and it has been taxed, so it is the responsibility of the owner or their insurance company to move it."
JOHN INNES
PARKING WARDENS slapped three tickets on an illegally parked car in Edinburgh - despite the fact the vehicle was a burnt-out wreck.
Enforcers started issuing £60 fines on the car after it was dumped and went up in flames on Lower Gilmore Place.
Locals could not believe their eyes as they watched tickets appear on the car, which does not even have a windscreen.
A spokeswoman for Central Parking System, the private firm that holds the contract to enforce parking regulations in the city, admitted a mistake had been made and blamed a new recruit.
Freddie Purves, 50, who lives nearby, said: "The car is literally a shell. Either a guy’s been unlucky and had his car stolen and then dumped and set on fire, or perhaps it has gone on fire while parked there.
"It has no tyres or windows so it’s not as if anyone could drive it away. It got a parking ticket on Thursday and I watched the warden put it on." The mechanic added: "I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I think they’ll ticket anyone."
To date, three tickets have been issued by parking wardens since the car went up in flames in the early hours of Thursday, 19 February.
Allan Cran, a hotelier based in Gilmore Place, said the ticketing incident did not surprise him. Mr Cran was a member of the Residents Parking Independents, which fought the city council elections after claiming voters were disillusioned by the Capital’s parking permit system and the Enforcers’ policy on ticketing.
He said: "There are a lot of them around giving out tickets when parents are dropping off children at Darroch school."
A council spokeswoman said: "We have the car on our system and it has been taxed, so it is the responsibility of the owner or their insurance company to move it."