Abandoned bus finally moved by council

A DOUBLE decker bus abandoned in Upper Achintore ‘for several years’ has finally been removed.

The yellow eyesore, belonging to Transdev Lancashire United Bus, based in Blackburn, England, was removed from Angus Crescent.

Fort William councillor Andrew Baxter told the Lo

chaber Times it has taken the council ‘too long to solve the problem’.

He said: ‘I am extremely disappointed it has taken so long to remove this eyesore.

‘Although officers had to undertake the proper process of notifying the registered keeper we were going to remove and dispose of this bus, it’s taken too long. It seems the council was reluctant to take action because we can only legally recover a few hundred pounds from the culprit. We need to be campaigning for a change in this particular law.’

He added a zero-tolerance approach should be taken to cases like this.

Mr Baxter said: ‘Serve the appropriate notice, wait until it is expired and then take action. No dithering. No delay. The council is risk averse with cases like this – scared an individual will respond with legal action. Let them. We only need one case to prove we aren’t going to be bullied in that way and we will take action to prove we won’t tolerate this sort of disregard for our area.’

A council spokesperson said: ‘ Local authorities are not required to remove abandoned cars from private land, although they have a duty to remove them from land under their control. The council is happy to work with landowners to try and identify the owner of vehicles if they are defined as abandoned, however, because of the costs of removal, storage and disposal, local authorities in Scotland do not have to process such vehicles. The police should be contacted on 101 if it is considered an abandoned vehicle on a public road is dangerous or is causing an obstruction.’