A skeleton has been left in parking purgatory after council workers sealed off a Dundee city centre lay-by — trapping a hearse.
Canny motorists — including the owner of a horror events company — have been using the lay-by as a free parking zone for months but Dundee City Council says doing so contravenes city centre parking rules.
Situated just off Riverside Drive between Discovery Point and the V&A, the lay-by has enough for space for three cars.
Although there are no signs in the immediate vicinity saying it is not to be used for parking, council workers have closed it off with bollards, trapping the hearse and another car.
Businesswoman Carrol Douglas-Welsh has been using it since before Christmas as a bay for the hearse she uses to advertise her Castle Horror business, which organises zombie-themed events.
The hearse has become a talking point, particularly since it features a full-size skeleton in the driver’s seat.
The bollards have been cemented into place although are collapsible so the owners will be able to remove their vehicles if someone is available to unlock the bollards.
Mrs Douglas-Walsh said: “I don’t want to do anything illegal and if the hearse has to be moved then I will move it.
“People have been parking there for months. This just seems a bit childish.
“My contact details are on the car so they could have got in touch with me and asked me to move it.
“The car is taxed and insured so is perfectly legal.”
She added that she had been notified bollards were being installed on Wednesday.
“I phoned the council but they were quite unhelpful,” she said.
“Eventually I got through to the parking department and was told someone from enforcement might be in touch with me.
“They said it Riverside Drive was a freeway and that there was no parking or stopping.”
The 52-year-old mum-of-two began organising parties to raise money for charity after her husband Keith died just days after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, in 2012.
She was so successful she launched Castle Horror as a part-time business, running horror-themed parties and corporate events.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “Any long-term parking in this bay is a contravention of the city council’s city centre parking regulations.
“We have taken this action because of concern that has been expressed about the use of this bay.”
