Motorist is forced to pay £24,500 worth of fines for parking outside her OWN home – in ruling that could open the floodgates for thousands to be bullied by private firms
Carly Mackie has been ordered to pay up after ignoring hundreds of penalty notices for parking at Dundee's Waterfront without a permit, claiming they were unenforceable
A MOTORIST has racked up a whopping £24,500 worth of fines for parking in an area outside her home.
Carly Mackie ignored hundreds of penalty notices for parking at Dundee's Waterfront without a permit, claiming they were unenforceable.
However she has been ordered by a sheriff to pay a private parking company £24,500 in unpaid charges.
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The fines have been slammed as 'bully-boy tactics' by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser.
Mackie previously argued that that she had a right to park in the area as she was living there at the time.
Sheriff George Way said the charges were from a "valid contract" and she was liable for them.
Vehicle Control Services (VCS) took the 28-year-old to court last year after she failed to pay £18,500 in private parking notices.
She had been living at a flat with her stepfather, who was a tenant and had a garage at the property.
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Sheriff Way said Mackie had parked outside the garage and would not accept the offer of a parking permit for a space nearby for £40 per month.
In a written judgement, Sheriff Way said: "She admits she parked without a permit, on the property that the pursuers were contracted to protect.
"She had no better right or title to do so than any other interloper or stranger no matter what her belief might be."
The sheriff said Ms Mackie had "entirely misdirected herself" on both the law and "the contractual chain" in the case.
He said: "The defender is bound by that contract and incurred the parking charge on each occasion.
"The defender refused to pay the parking charges not because she was unaware of the parking scheme or the terms of the notices or the financial consequences of parking at any time, but because she did not believe that the charges were valid in law.
"The parking charges flow from a valid contract between the pursuers and the defender and she is liable for them."
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