Homeless charity van fined for parking in Glasgow layby

Homeless Project Scotland says it feeds 310 people a day

A charity has warned it may have to stop feeding vulnerable people in Glasgow city centre after it was fined as food was loaded into its van.

Homeless Project Scotland said the vehicle was given a ticket for parking in a layby on Argyle Street under Central Bridge.

Chairman Colin McInnes said it had a dispensation from the council which allowed the van to park there.

But Glasgow City Council said this only covered loading and unloading.

It said a parking attendant saw the vehicle parked over a reasonable length of time with no loading or unloading taking place.

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However Mr McInnes said the charity's vehicles had parked in the layby for the last three years with no issues.

Workers regularly use the layby to load and unload food and essentials from the charity's unit nearby.

He said it had a dispensation in place with the council, and the most recent was applied for and approved last month.

Mr McInnes added: "Our message to Glasgow City Council is clear - cancel the ticket and continue our dispensations or we can't continue to provide for the homeless."

The charity has had a parking exemption for three years

He said: "We just stop outside the unit and take food and essentials in and out - it's essentially the beating heart of our operations in Glasgow.

"One of our drivers parked outside to get 1,500 sandwiches out of the van for service later on.

"Then the parking officer said he needed to give them a ticket."

Mr McInnes said the driver explained the charity had an arrangement in place with the council but the warden still issued the ticket.

He added: "She phoned me distressed and I was appalled, but I knew we had a dispensation in place so I wrote to the council to get it cancelled."

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The chairman said it took the council four weeks to respond but they upheld the original fine.

Mr McInnes said: "The council have repeatedly tried to batter us with the LEZ, bus lanes, and now with parking.

"Now we're at the point where we're thinking we will have to stop service."

He said the charity recently had to spend more than £120,000 on two new vans to comply with the new low emission zone (LEZ) in the city centre.

In general, petrol vehicles registered from 2006 onwards and diesel engine vehicles registered after September 2015 will meet the required standards.

But Transport Scotland's LEZ vehicle checker showed that the charity's refrigerated van was not compliant despite being registered in 2015.

'We regularly see people from cradle to grave'

The homeless charity launched a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the new vehicles, however they are still two vans short.

"Why aren't the council thanking us for what we do, and the money we save them by feeding thousands of vulnerable people a month?" said Mr McInnes.

"We have 310 people queuing a night for food, we regularly see people from cradle to grave."

A spokesman for the council said: "HPS has dispensation for a number of vehicles to load and unload from the lay-by outside their premises on Argyle Street.

"To comply with the dispensation HPS must be actively loading and unloading their vehicles at this location.

"On 22 June a parking attendant observed the parked vehicle over a reasonable length of time with no loading or unloading taking place.

"As such a penalty charge notice was issued and the subsequent appeal was refused."