An undertaker has won her appeal against Glasgow City Council after she was slapped with a bus lane fine for dropping off a bereaved family at a pub during a rainstorm. East Kilbride-based Hester and Lalli Independent Funeral Care was handed a fixed penalty notice after moving into a bus lane to park outside Grant Arms, where a wake was being held on October 11.
Managing director Dee Lalli told Glasgow Live that the limousine was taking a grieving family from the funeral service to the bar, beside the Hielanman's Umbrella on Argyle Street. The driver crossed into a bus lane to drop them off as close to the entrance as possible, as it was “lashing” down with rain.
The firm was slapped with the fine in the weeks after the incident, and their original appeal to waive the charge was rejected by Glasgow City Council. A spokesperson for the local authority said at the time that the fixed penalty notice was "appropriate" as the driver had "ignored the road restrictions".
But after two months of going back and forth during the appeals process, Dee has now officially won her case. The £60 fine has been scrapped. Speaking of her "relief", she said: "I was jumping up and down in my seat, I was like I can’t believe this.
"I never thought this was going to happen. Nobody wins against Glasgow City Council. It’s a relief and more than anything else the fact that we won it, we know we have done a good job by looking out for our families."
Dee explained that she felt "saddened" after being hit with the fine, but says she'd do it again in a heartbeat. She said: "You are trying to look after a family and for us we will look after our families as best we can and go the extra mile for them. I was saddened that they did not see that.
"The family were dropped off and the driver drove off. If we had to do it again, I would still do it just to look after my families. I wasn’t going to let it go because it was hurting me inside.
"There’s hundreds of families out there who will be in the same position. I would do it again if I had to. My families come first and I will go to lengths for them."
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