SCORES of motorists are owed refunds from East Renfrewshire Council after wrongly being issued with parking tickets, the Barrhead News can reveal.

At least 60 drivers are due to get their money back after being penalised for leaving vehicles in a car park the council doesn’t even own.

The error came to light after Neilston man Alan Dunn disputed a ticket issued to him last month.

Mr Dunn, 40, was meeting a friend in Glasgow for lunch on December 4 and decided to catch the train from Patterton station.

After leaving his car in the main station car park, he returned to find a £60 penalty charge notice from an East Renfrewshire Council parking attendant.

The notice said he had been parked in a “restricted area” and the fine would be reduced by half if he paid within 14 days.

Instead, he challenged the ticket by email, insisting it was unfair to impose penalties when there were no restriction signs in place.

Mr Dunn said: “It was the first time I’ve parked there, so I double-checked for pay and display or any restriction signs and found none.

“I was surprised to find a penalty charge notice from the council when there were no council parking signs.

“I got the runaround by email, so I challenged them publicly on social media, which is when they asked me for a private chat.”

At this point, the council, via its Facebook account, admitted it was only responsible for the disabled bays at the station’s main car park, which is owned by ScotRail, and confirmed Mr Dunn should not have received a ticket.

A subsequent Freedom of Information request to the council has revealed 60 people have been issued with penalties at the same car park.

Mr Dunn said: “I’ve been asking the council how they intend to refund every ticket they’ve fraudulently taken money for.

“People who have paid these need to know they’re entitled to a full refund and the council needs to be forced into doing it.”

Council chiefs confirmed to the Barrhead News that “an error” with tickets being issued at the main car park at Patterton train station was brought to their attention in mid-December.

A spokesperson said: “As soon as we were aware of this issue, we immediately took action to cease ticketing in the station and are now in the process of cancelling issued tickets and refunding any payments already made.

“These tickets should not have been issued, as the main train station car park is owned and managed by ScotRail.

“We apologise to any commuters who have received and paid a parking ticket within this car park and have taken steps to ensure this issue will not happen again.”

Patterton station’s overflow car park, to the west of Stewarton Road, is still owned and managed by the council. All tickets issued in this car park are still valid and should be paid.