Bosses at Xplore Dundee have blamed an “illegal picket” for alerting authorities after one of its buses was hit with a parking ticket.
The double-decker was pictured with the ticket attached to its windscreen on Crichton Street, in the city centre, on Tuesday afternoon.
The vehicle had been parked in a bay with a maximum stay of two hours.
Xplore says the bus was there for emergency relief, in case of a breakdown.
Staff at the company are currently on strike, with temporary drivers drafted in to run a skeleton timetable.
‘An illegal picket pointed it out to a traffic warden’
Ronald Clark, who saw the ticket, said: “I was walking down Crichton Street yesterday afternoon and saw a parking ticket on front of the bus.
“It was parked in bus loading bay so it must have overstayed its time in the bay.”
A spokesperson for Xplore said: “We understand that we had a spare bus parked in town to respond to any breakdowns.
“An illegal picket pointed out to a traffic warden that our bus was parked in a bus bay with a max stay of two hours.”
A spokesperson for Dundee City Council, which handed out the ticket, said: “It would not be appropriate for the council to discuss individual cases.
“Details of how a challenge can be made to a penalty charge notice are available on the council’s website.”
The comments from Xplore come after the firm was accused of using “dirty tricks” when it cited the closures of major firms like Timex and Michelin in Dundee in an attempt to prevent strike action.
About 200 workers are taking industrial action after rejecting a 7% pay deal.
Xplore has since announced all its services this Sunday are cancelled due to the impact of the strike.
The industrial action could run until September unless a real is reached.
The Courier has a comprehensive guide to the Xplore Dundee strike including which services are running.
