A COUPLE who faced having their family car seized over a bus gate fine have been told that a council will no longer pursue the case.
Dawn Bonelle was due to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court today in a bid to overturn an arrestment order on the Dacia Stepway Sandero, worth around £5,000, which she jointly owns with husband Geoffrey.
Glasgow City Council had called in debt collectors to claim the vehicle over an unpaid fine levied when Mr Bonelle drove through the city's Nelson Mandela bus gate in October last year.
The fine, originally £30, has ballooned to more than £274 while the couple have been locked in a dispute with the council over the fixed penalty notice. The Bonelles believe the gate was not clearly signposted.
However, Mrs Bonelle, from Livingston in West Lothian, said she received a letter on Monday from the Stirling Park debt collection company confirming that the arrestment order on the Dacia has been withdrawn.
Mrs Bonelle has also been passed a letter from Glasgow City Council chief executive, Annemarie O'Donnell, stating that the car would no longer be seized since it had come to light that it was jointly owned by both Mr and Mrs Bonelle - although the registration is in Mrs Bonelle's name.
Mrs Bonelle said she had always made that clear in correspondence with the council.
The letter was sent by Ms O'Donnell to Livingston MP Hannah Bardell after she took up the Bonelles' case.
The couple rely on their car to transport their son, who has suffered brain damage, to and from a residential centre for autistic adults in Lochgelly, Fife.
Mrs Bonelle said she now plans to pay off the £274 but will try to recoup it from Glasgow City Council via the small claims court.
She said: "I am relieved that they are no longer chasing the car, but I think they have just dropped the case to save them having to send someone to Livingston Sheriff Court.
"We're going to keep fighting though. They are a law unto themselves and I think people just pay up because they're scared."
Glasgow City Council insists that the bus gate signage is clear and legal.
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