UNPAID parking fines totalling around £6.5 million have been cancelled by Edinburgh City Council as a result of a legal blunder dating back eight years.
But while those who used underhand techniques to dodge parking fines are now off-the-hook, officials insist that thousands of residents who did pay fines they did not legally have to will not receive a refund.
Campaigners have urged people to mou
nt legal challenges to win back their cash.
It was revealed late last year that all parking tickets issued in the capital up until June 2006 were technically "illegal", because they did not bear both the date of issue and date of the offence as required by UK law.
Following a Freedom of Information request, it has been revealed that all debt owed prior to that date has now been wiped clean.
Sheriff officers are being told to stop chasing all outstanding offences dating back to decriminalisation in 1998 - understood to total around 70,000.
The council has also abandoned pursuing 4327 fines it had not yet passed to sheriff officers.
Having failed to pay the £30 on time, the vast majority of the motorists involved had seen their outstanding fines rise to £90.
Opposition politicians today said the situation was "very disappointing".
A council spokeswoman defended the local authority's position.
"Tackling persistent offenders such as those who keep flouting parking rules is something we take very seriously," she said.
"Our tickets were based on guidelines issued by the Department of Transport, which were taken in good faith and were believed to be correct, along with other councils.
"However, this has proved to be wrong and we have taken external legal advice, which has forced us to write off a number of unpaid tickets issued before 1 June last year.
"Our legal team are advising us we will not have to refund anybody who has already paid their fine and we are not aware of any case in the UK where a refund has been given."
The issue was first raised last May, when parking campaigner Barrie Segal highlighted an obscure point of law that Edinburgh's tickets failed to comply with.
At the time, the council expressed full confidence in the set-up - but still changed the wording on tickets within a week. All current tickets are now compliant with the law.
Last year, Mr Segal successfully overturned tickets issued in Barnet, and a High Court judge then threw out an appeal by the London borough. That ruling has prompted the council's decision to cancel all outstanding tickets.
Edinburgh parking chiefs do not believe motorists who paid their tickets are due any cash back because they have effectively accepted their guilt, although the legal position remains unclear.
A family in London has already won back all the money they paid out in fines after mounting a legal challenge in the small claims court.
Allan Jackson, the Conservative transport spokesman, said: "This story has been rumbling on for some time now, and we had been assured by the council that people who had not paid their fines would still be pursued.
"It's very disappointing to find out today that the council has been wrong, and a substantial amount of money can no longer be pursued.
"My concern is that this money, which is no longer available, would have been used to improve the city's transport infrastructure."
He added that the council would be facing "financial disaster" if money had to be returned to drivers who have paid their fines.
