A CITY expat has slammed the council after receiving three bus lane fines in less than 10 minutes.

Colin Grant, 65, had returned home to Canada by the time he received the unexpected fines for driving in city centre bus lanes.

After stepping off the plane one Sunday morning, he hired a car and drove through the deserted city centre via the restricted lanes on Hope Street, West George Street and Nelson Mandela Place.

It was the first time the accountant, who moved to Canada from Easterhouse more than 30 years ago, had driven in the city since the tough measures were introduced and claims he was unaware of the new restrictions.

After reluctantly paying £30 for each of the penalties, he received another letter from the local authority demanding £90 claiming to be for an outstanding penalty.

The expat faced even more misery when he was forced to shell out £30 per fine to the rental car company he used for the trip.

He has so far paid £120 for the fines, and now says he will not pay the extra £90 the local authority are demanding.

Colin said the experience has left him with "a bad taste in the mouth" and added: " I was totally speechless when I saw the charges coming through.

"I made the trip in the middle of August, and in September I was billed by the rental car company but had no idea what it was for.

"At that point I hadn't received anything from the council, then I got a note of two charges completely out of the blue.

"I had literally just arrived from an overnight flight. I drove into Glasgow right away, about 10am on a Sunday.

"I certainly didn't expect that, especially at that time on a Sunday morning."

Colin said the 24-hour bus lanes are "ridiculous" and would deter fellow visitors from returning to the city if they were hit with similar charges after their holiday.

"Obviously the buses don't run 24/7 so it's kind of silly to have the restrictions active during those times." he explained.

"To a visitor from out of town, these are completely unexpected.

"I can see lots of people doing it as you wouldn't expect it at that time of day.

"It's different if it was rush hour on a Friday night or something but it wasn't. That's what I find so ridiculous.

"All major cities have bus lanes which are effective in rush hour. But to have them 24/7 and particularly at weekends, nobody would expect it. It will put people off.

A spokeswoman for tourism bodyVisitScotland said: "It's unfortunate this has happened to one of our visitors to Glasgow. However, we would always advise anyone travelling to Scotland who is intending on driving while on holiday to research the rules and regulations of the roads in each particular country they are in as they can vary massively."

After speaking to the Evening Times, the organisation updated their online advice for tourists with guidelines about bus lanes, which was previously unmentioned.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: "Driving in bus lanes has always been an offence for anyone but authorised vehicles.

"We don't believe that bus lane fines will put people off coming to Glasgow - bus lanes are the same as any other road restriction and are well signed.

"In this particular case, the gentleman has received the letter, which is issued automatically, after he made the agreed payment.

"As far as we're concerned, all penalty charge notices for Mr Grant have been paid in full and no further action is needed."