Parking ticket dodger in bid to drive van off truck

COURT: Sheriff slams workman’s ‘stupid’ and ‘potentially dangerous’ decision

A workman yesterday admitted endangering parking wardens by jumping on to a recovery truck to rescue his van as it was being impounded due to unpaid parking fines.

Charlie Dunn’s Transit van was being loaded on to the truck when he jumped into the driver’s seat to try to get it back by driving it off the recovery vehicle.

Dunn – who faced hundreds of pounds worth of parking tickets – revved the van and drove it backwards and forwards to break free from the cable and winch system it was attached to.

The tradesman, who leaped out of his bed when he realised his vehicle was being impounded, kept going as the recovery truck driver attempted to keep winching the van on board.

Sheriff Gillian Wade ordered Dunn to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and told him he had posed a danger to the recovery driver and the parking wardens.

She said: “To jump into a vehicle when it is partially on a recovery vehicle and drive backwards and forwards to try to release it is not only potentially dangerous to others, but to himself as well.

“Frankly it is stupid. Quite how you thought you were going to get away with this I am not sure. It was obviously a really stupid decision to try to move off.

“The parking wardens were doing what they should have done to implement the instructions they had.”

Dunn, 29, St John’s Place, Perth, admitted acting in a culpable and reckless manner in the city’s Canal Street on 21 June last year.

He admitted repeatedly driving back and forth while the car was hooked and cabled to the winch system.

He admitted putting strain on the winch and working it loose to drive off the truck and exposing Alexander Kydd, Stephen Cowie and Colin West to the risk of injury.

Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney told Perth Sheriff Court: “Mr West is employed as a parking enforcement officer.

“He issued the accused’s vehicle with a parking ticket.

“He was aware there were numerous unpaid fines for the vehicle and instructed it to be seized. When the front wheels of the van were on the bed of the truck the accused appeared.

“He unlocked the van, climbed into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. He drove forward before reversing and kept doing this.

“The winch held firm for a period until eventually the accused was successful and the hooks were dropped. He drove off and away from the recovery truck.

“Witnesses were concerned for their safety throughout and for the public.

“The strain could have caused the winch to snap and the hooks could have flown in the other direction.”

Solicitor Jamie Baxter, defending, said Dunn had immediately driven to the parking enforcement office to complain about the incident and dispute his list of unpaid tickets.

“He had been working until the early hours and parked outside his address. There were previous unpaid fines. I think they were quite substantial.

“He was still sleeping when the whole incident commenced. He accepts it was being taken away legitimately, but at the time he did not think it was being done legitimately. It was a spur of the moment decision.”

Dunn did not face any driving charge, so was not banned from the road.

Quite how you thought you were going to get away with this I am not sure. SHERIFF GILLIAN WADE