Visitors to the Offshore Europe oil show were yesterday still being issued with parking tickets – despite the city council leader admitting it had “done nothing” to boost Aberdeen’s reputation.
As the Press and Journal reported yesterday, dozens of motorists who parked on grass verges when the car parks filled up on Wednesday returned to their vehicles to find they had been issued with parking fines.
City councillors branded it “utterly ridiculous” as the event was hosted by the local authority and people from around the world were attending.
The council has now agreed that motorists at the event who think they were unfairly given parking fines can lodge an appeal and they will be “as sympathetic as possible”.
City wardens could be seen patrolling in the streets surrounding Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) yesterday issuing tickets to some of the cars left on grass verges. Hundreds of vehicles with nowhere else to park were again parked on the verges in Claymore Drive.
Aberdeen City Council leader John Stewart told the P&J at the show: “You have to be able to act quickly in terms of reputation management, and what has happened has done nothing to enhance the reputation of the city or the council.”
He said the council would take a “commonsense approach” to every appeal that comes in.
Mr Stewart said: “We have to be flexible – if people are parked sensibly, out of the way of pedestrians and not obstructing traffic flow, then that would be taken into account given the circumstances.”
Motorists who were issued tickets were nevertheless angry.
Andrew Wright, of oil service firm OTEAC, who parked on the verge and received a ticket yesterday, said: “I saw the cars parked here, they didn’t have tickets on them and there weren’t any signs saying I couldn’t park here.
“I have only been parked here for two hours, and to come back and see a ticket is just ridiculous.
“It is a farce that when the car parks fill up, there is no indication of where else you can or cannot park.”
David Dilworth, a project manager with Aker Solutions, also received a ticket for parking on the grass verge.
He said: “If they provided enough parking for the amount of people expected to turn up, then I would have been more than happy to pay for a ticket.
“I think they have just seen an opportunity for extra revenue and taken advantage.
“I came here yesterday, parked on the verge and didn’t get a ticket, but today I have. I am not parked on the pathway, I am not obstructing anyone – I parked in an area I deemed safe.”
Sue Bruce, chief executive of Aberdeen City Council, said parking capacity had been reduced because one of the areas which was due to be a car park had been flooded last week. She said: “The city wardens have done their job properly this week, as they always have done, but we needed to give clearer direction about how to proceed in the immediate vicinity surrounding the centre.
“I would encourage anyone who thinks they have been unfairly treated to lodge an appeal.
“We will be as sympathetic as possible in dealing with any appeals against fixed penalty notices issued at AECC during Offshore Europe.
“Overall, managing the volume of traffic here has gone reasonably well – people have been co-operating in terms of using the park-and-ride and shuttle buses so far.”
The massive turnout for this year’s OE show is expected to be a record-breaker, with the total attendance for the four days possibly exceeding 45,000.
A spokesman for organiser Offshore Europe Partnership said Tuesday’s figure of more than 15,000 visitors was the biggest yet recorded in one day at OE.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, another 14,000-plus people had gone through the doors – giving a three-day tally of around 40,000.
The spokesman said the turnout so far had been impressive.