A GLASGOW homeless charity is asking the public to help with fines it has been hit with for using bus lanes while making vital food parcel pick-ups.

Homeless Project Scotland (HPS) has been told it must pay six bus lane penalties which add up to £540 within seven days or face further legal action.

Bosses at the cause, which serves 250,000 meals a year to some of the city's most vulnerable people from its base under the Hielanman’s Umbrella in Argyle Street, say they need urgent donations to help clear the debt before sheriff officers are sent in with the power to freeze the charity's bank account.

Glasgow Times: HPS chair Colin McInnes HPS chair Colin McInnes (Image: Newsquest)

HPS chair Colin McInnes said: “We’ve been placed in a terrible situation. All the funds raised by our charity go towards feeding the homeless all across Glasgow.

"Our volunteers are collecting food donations from noon until 10pm from all across the city, and if they are stuck in heavy traffic on Maryhill Road, they nip into the bus lane so they don’t miss out on vital pick-ups.

"We feel we've been very harshly treated and have been left with no alternative but to turn to the public to ask for help.

"It is dreadful that the council's callous attitude has backed us into a corner like this. I'd ask them one last time to do the right thing and stop hounding a charity that exists to help others."

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The fines relate to the use of bus lanes on Maryhill Road, Glassford Street, Dumbarton Road, West George Street and Nelson Mandela Place.

Glasgow Times:

The final demand has been sent to the charity by Stirling Park, which is acting on behalf of the local authority.

The paperwork says: “A sheriff officer will be instructed to call and serve a charge for payment of money notice or an arrestment of your bank account.

“To avoid this action, pay the full balance within seven days.”

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Council bosses say they initially reduced each fine to £30 but that these have remained unpaid.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “No further bus lane fines have been issued to HPS since September and this indicates the charity has been able to deliver their service without driving into bus lanes where they have no exemption.

"We have ensured 10 vehicles used by HPS are exempt from the bus gate and parking restrictions on Argyle Street to help them operate the soup kitchen under Central Station.

“No other dispensation is in place and no information has ever been provided to us that attempts to show an exemption is needed by the charity for the whole city, or for any other specific bus gates, to collect or deliver food.

“We have viewed the camera footage for each of the six incidents and there is no indication that HPS has stopped to collect or drop off any goods in any of the bus lanes they drove into.

"We have offered advice on how to get to specific places without travelling in bus lanes and we also reduced the fines to the initial £30 charge, but that offer was rejected and the fines have since gone up in line with standard practice.

“As the fines remain unpaid, this matter has been passed to debt recovery as happens with any other unpaid fines.

“Bus lanes are a crucial measure for the efficiency of the city’s public transport system and no other charity in the city has the general exemption being suggested by HPS.

“The blue light emergency services are exempted because of the urgency of what they do, not just because it is more convenient for them.”

Visit: Glasgow City Council Bus Lane Fund ( SHAME ) - JustGiving