Several North Ayrshire Council employees have been issued with fines of up to £5,000 for historic parking offences in the car park across from Asda and the Rivergate in Irvine – and say senior staff told them to ‘ignore’ tickets.

Those affected say they were advised by senior colleagues at the council that they could park in the car park owned by Euro Car Parks and they could ‘bin’ any parking fines.

However, in recent weeks several employees have received a Simple Procedure Notice of Claim from a debt recovery firm ordering them to pay fines of up to £5,000 for parking offences dating back to 2016 or face court action.

A current employee who wishes to remain anonymous said: “The council have never provided adequate parking. Unless you are in the car park by 8.10am you will not get a space.

“The nature of my job involves lifting heavy material and you cannot do that in the pouring rain from a distance.

“Staff at the council told us you will get a parking ticket but you do not need to pay it.

“We were advised to ignore it and told to bin them.

“Many council staff would park in the car park across from Asda and now many are having to pay large fines.

“We were parking on their advice and getting fined for going to work.

“I know one person who has spoken to someone high up in the council and they are taking nothing to do with it.

“I want the council to take responsibility because they were fast enough to tell people you can park there but when it has come out they have just hidden in a shell and ignored it.

“It’s a lot of money to pay and those affected all have houses to run and don’t just have that sort of money sitting there.”

Another employee added: “I think staff were misled because people were saying you can park in that car park and they cannot take it any further.

“We were told just bin them and now out of the blue we are receiving letters from a Sheriff Officer.”

When approached for comment North Ayrshire Council said it ‘discourages’ its staff from using the Asda car park.

However, it is understood that staff only received an email with this advice last week and any guidance on the car park was usually only made ‘verbally’.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Our staff are discouraged from using the Asda car park, not only due to the potential for penalty, but also to support the town centre by allowing more spaces for shoppers.

“If staff decide to use the Asda car park to park their vehicle, they are responsible for any penalties or other fines that they may incur.”