GLASGOW City Council's "ruthless" traffic regulations have come under fire from a hospital worker who says she was unfairly fined.

Elizabeth Haynes, 56, was fined £30 – rising to £60 – for parking in an unmarked bay in Wishart Street, outside Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

However, the bio-chemist insists the condition of the road surface was so bad at the time that it was impossible to tell what was a marked bay and what wasn't.

She bought a pay-and-display ticket from a nearby machine, but when she returned to her car hours later there was a penalty notice fixed to her windshield.

Ms Haynes said: "I parked on a stretch of Wishart Street near Alexandra Parade where there is space for about five cars.

"There are signs warning drivers to park only in marked bays, but the road surface was in such bad condition that you could barely make out the white markings anywhere on the street.

"It seemed to me that this particular stretch of road where I parked was just another badly marked parking area.

"I was sure I had good grounds for appeal but my first appeal to the council was rejected and my second appeal, to the Scottish Parking Appeals Service, was also knocked back."

Elizabeth was fined in January last year and she says that up until November, the situation was the same in Wishart Street - poorly marked bays and a crumbling road surface.

The bays have since been repainted.

However, when we went along to photo-graph the street, there were five cars parked in the same stretch where Elizabeth was caught out.

Some of the cars had pay-and-display tickets in their windows.

"Clearly people still think these are parking spaces," Elizabeth said.

"But at least you have a chance now of seeing the markings elsewhere. When I parked there, you had no chance of knowing what was and what wasn't an actual parking bay.

"The council is utterly ruthless in the way it fines people and how it handles genuine appeals."

In her correspondence with the council, Elizabeth was told that the area is clearly marked with signs warning that "waiting is prohibited" - however, there are no such signs in the area where she was fined.

Neil Greig of the Advanced Institute of Motorists said: "Glasgow Parking is a service, and its customers are the motorists.

"The council should be doing its best to provide a high quality service, and in this case they have not.

"The council should be investing the revenue it makes from these disproportionate fines in improving the service, whether that be erecting clearer signs or making sure road markings are clear."

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "The Scottish Parking Appeals Service – the independ-ent adjudicator – has twice found in the council's favour.

"All avenues of appeal have been exhausted and the case is now closed with payment received."

stef.lach@ heraldandtimes.co.uk