Welsh OAP wins court battle over refusal to pay parking tickets – because the fines were only written in English
- Pensioner Toni Schiavone, 67, received the £60 ticket in a Llangrannog car park
- An appeal launched by the car park operator was thrown out in a court hearing
A Welsh pensioner has won a court battle over his refusal to pay a parking fine – because the ticket was only written in English.
When Toni Schiavone, 67, received the £60 ticket in a car park in the seaside village of Llangrannog, Ceredigion, he refused to pay until he received correspondence in Welsh.
A first civil court hearing last year was thrown out because the company managing the car park, One Parking Solutions, based in Worthing, West Sussex, failed to send a legal representative.
And an appeal launched by the car park operator has also been thrown out in a hearing at Aberystwyth civil court yesterday.
Deputy judge Owain Williams decided the company had delayed for too long before launching its appeal – and introduced it under incorrect rules.
Toni Schiavone, 67, won a court battle over his refusal to pay a parking fine – because the ticket was only written in English
A lawyer representing the company attended yesterday’s hearing, but the case was again thrown out.
Mr Schiavone, of Saron, Carmarthenshire, said: ‘The travel costs of the counsel alone are more than the cost of translating the fine, and the cost of conducting the case is a hundred times or more the cost of providing a Welsh fine.
‘The company’s attitude has been completely contemptuous and completely against the rights of Welsh speakers.’
A judge ordered that One Parking Solutions pay Mr Schiavone’s travel expenses.
Mr Shiavone said the money would be donated to the charity Cancer Research Wales.
Siân Howys, of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group launched a campaign encouraging people not to pay for parking in car parks with English-only signs
Mr Schiavone received the £60 ticket in a car park in the seaside village of Llangrannog, Ceredigion
Siân Howys, of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group, said: ‘We are pleased that the judge ruled in favour.
‘It is becoming increasingly evident that these companies need to change their attitudes towards the Welsh language.
‘To put pressure on them we will today be launching a campaign encouraging people not to pay for parking in car parks with English-only signs, nor to pay the resultant fines.’
One Parking Solutions has previously been at the centre of controversy in Llangrannog after a local welfare committee said it had been “inundated” with complaints over allegedly unfair fines issued at a busy beachside car park operated by the firm.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “We are keen to see all sectors increase the use of Welsh and supporting businesses to develop their Welsh language services is a priority for us.”
One Parking Solution said it did not wish to make any comment.
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