If your car was used to abuse the parking rules, should you be made to say who was driving?
That was the question at the centre of a long-running court battle over a troublesome Vauxhall Corsa that kept showing up at Aberdeen car park without a permit.
Infuriated officials from the Robert Gordon University car park off Garthdee Road kept finding the W-reg vehicle there in 2018 – and often it was parked in a disabled bay.
All they could do was slap ticket after ticket on it – until eventually there were 49 unpaid fines.
Fines worth more than car
The fines kept rising – eventually reaching a total of £6,370 and more than the value of the car itself.
By May 2019, bosses from Euro Car Parks, which manages the site on behalf of RGU, had reached breaking point.
They wrote to the car’s owner – a Glasgow woman named Smaira Bilal Saleem – however, she refused to say who parked the Corsa and the saga rumbled on for several more years.
Have your say – who was in the right?
In February 2023 – almost five years after the first ticket was issued – Euro Car Parks took the dispute to Paisley Sheriff Court.
Then there was a breakthrough.
‘A huge amount of expense’
On day one of the hearing, Ms Saleem finally admitted her son, an RGU student, was the problem parker – a fact he also confirmed on day two of the case.
At that point Euro Car Parks dropped its case against Ms Saleem – however, the sheriff took a dim view of her conduct.
The sheriff told the court: “A huge amount of procedure and expense has been occasioned by the defender’s lack of candour.”
He ordered Ms Saleem to pay Euro Car Park’s court expenses of £1,246.
But Ms Saleem believed she had done nothing wrong as she was not driving the Corsa and had cooperated with the court.
She appealed the expenses decision at the Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh – the judgement of which has now been published.
Ms Saleem’s lawyer Alan Hutcheson argued the decision was “plainly wrong, unreasonable and highly unusual”.
However, Sophie Cargill, the lawyer for Euro Car Parks disagreed.
Ms Cargill said: “Ms Saleem had been called upon to state who was claimed to have been the driver on the relevant dates. The call was unanswered.
“In 2022, Ms Saleem had unsuccessfully tried to oppose Euro Car Park’s motion for a specification of documents, which sought to identify who was insured to drive the vehicle in question.
“It was blatant obfuscation.
“Euro Car Parks incurred significant expense on account of the way in which Ms Saleem had conducted the case. “
‘Don’t bury your head in the sand’
In his judgement, Sheriff Principal Murphy KC also criticised the conduct of Ms Saleem – but reversed the original sheriff’s decision and ruled she does not have to pay Euro Car Parks’ expenses bill.
According to court papers, Sheriff Murphy said: “This case clearly turned on the question of the identity of the driver who had parked Ms Saleem’s vehicle in the car park at RGU.
“Ms Saleem was repeatedly warned further costs might be incurred if she simply buried her head in the sand.
“Her position was that the notices were nothing to do with her and therefore there could be no need to respond.
“This was unrealistic in practical terms and gave rise to the litigation.”
“The sheriff was correct to consider that the actions – or inaction – of Ms Saleem (before the hearing) which took up two days of court time.
“(The identity of the driver) had been known to Ms Saleem from the outset but not revealed until she was cross-examined on the first day of (the hearing).
“This was some five years after the first notice of penalty had been issued.”
Not her fault the case proceeded
Sheriff Murphy said he accepted Ms Saleem was not obliged to identify the driver until she was put on the stand.
It was the decision of Euro Car Parks to keep the original court hearing running into the second day so they could hear Ms Saleem’s son admit to being the driver.
Therefore, it was not Ms Saleem’s fault that court proceedings went on.
Sheriff Murphy “reluctantly” took the view that she should not therefore have to pay for it.
The only question that remains is – who should pay the legal bill for the appeal court hearing?
Sheriff Murphy gave each side three weeks to write to him with their views about that.
It is understood Euro Car Parks chiefs are still trying to make Ms Saleem’s son pay the £6,370 bill.
However, his representatives are disputing whether some of the tickets were issued properly.
Euro Car Parks did not respond to our invitation to comment.
An RGU spokesman said: “The university uses external contractors to manage its car parking arrangements and expects all users to abide by the rules as set out in our parking policy which is accessible on our website.
“Furthermore, regular communications are sent out to all staff and students, and our parking provider displays high-profile signage in campus car parking areas.”