GLASGOW City Council has set a debt recovery firm on a homeless charity after it used bus lanes to make lifeline food pick-ups.
Homeless Project Scotland has been told it must pay six bus lane fines totalling £540 within seven days or face further legal action.
The Glasgow Times has seen the final demand sent to the charity by Stirling Park, which is acting on behalf of the local authority.
Bosses at the cause, which operates from its base under the Hielanman’s Umbrella Bridge in Argyle Street to serve hundreds of meals a week to the city’s poorest people, have labelled council bosses ‘heartless’ for the move.
Charity chair Colin McInnes said: “It’s absolutely scandalous that we are being threatened with sheriff officers. We have refused to pay the fines because we run a vital service and our fridge vans can’t meet collection deadlines without using bus lanes.
“Our volunteers are collecting food donations from noon until 10pm from all across Glasgow. If they are stuck in heavy traffic on Maryhill Road, they nip into the bus lane so they don’t miss out on getting 500 free sandwiches to feed the homeless.
“I would implore the council to reconsider its position on this. I want to get around the table and discuss what we need to do to use bus lanes without fear of being fined.”
READ MORE: 'Scandalous' Glasgow charity facing axe says older people will suffer.
The fines relate to the use of bus lanes in Maryhill Road, Glassford Street, Dumbarton Road and West George Street and Nelson Mandela Place.
The paperwork says: “Charge certificates have been issued by Glasgow City Council – Bus Lane Contravention. A sheriff officer will be instructed to call and serve a charge for payment of money notice or an arrestment of your bank account.
“To avoid this action pay the full balance within seven days.”
However, council bosses say they initially reduced each fine to £30 but they have remained unpaid.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “No further bus lane fines have been issued to HPS since September and this indicates the charity has been able to deliver their service without driving into bus lanes where they have no exemption.
We have ensured 10 vehicles used by HPS are exempt from the bus gate and parking restrictions on Argyle Street to help them operate the soup kitchen under Central Station.
“No other dispensation is in place and no information has ever been provided to us that attempts to show an exemption is needed by the charity for the whole city, or for any other specific bus gates, to collect or deliver food.
“We have viewed the camera footage for each of the six incidents and there is no indication that HPS has stopped to collect or drop-off any goods in any of the bus lanes they drove into.
"We have offered advice on how to get to specific places without travelling in bus lanes and we also reduced the fines to the initial £30 charge, but that offer was rejected and the fines have since gone up in line with standard practice.
“As the fines remain unpaid, this matter has been passed to debt recovery as happens with any other unpaid fines.
“Bus lanes are a crucial measure for the efficiency of the city’s public transport system and no other charity in the city has the general exemption being suggested by HPS.
“The blue light emergency services are exempted because of the urgency of what they do, not just because it is more convenient for them.”
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