A Perth business man has been subjected to a hate campaign which he fears could spell the death knell for his company.
Andrew McDonald parked a vehicle emblazoned with slogans advertising a change of premises outside his old unit on the Inveralmond Industrial Estate after council officials demanded that he remove boards advertising his new location.
But despite being legally parked, taxed and MOT’d, the car, which sits on Ruthvenfield Road, has been repeatedly targeted by vandals – on one occasion even being lifted by a forklift and placed blocking the pavement.
It has also had fake “Police Aware” stickers glued on all its windows, a door mirror ripped off, a fake parking ticket placed on the windscreen and, most recently, all four tyres were slashed.
Andrew, who runs AMC Tyre Centre, moved to the new site on Almondgrove Place at the end of July and immediately put up signs to indicate its new location.
He said: “We were twice as busy at the new address when we had signs at the end of the road – as soon as the council took the signs down we fitted zero tyres one day, and I was paying two guys to stand around doing nothing.
“After the council made me take the signs down I had to pay a guy off. For two weeks I’d lost £300 to £500 a week and it’s still the same, we are so quiet.”
He then came up with the idea of using a car to notify customers of a change of address, a move which has not proved popular with everyone as Andrew has received several anonymous emails demanding that he remove the vehicle and it has been attacked several times.
He said: “The car has now been vandalised for the fourth time on Saturday night into Sunday. It’s getting worse and worse every time and I feel like next time the windows are going to get smashed or the car set on fire.
“Somebody is angry and trying to intimidate me into moving the vehicle. People think it’s parked there for free advertising but it’s not, its parked there because the council won’t let me have signs.
“The police have been out four times and say it’s parked legally and safely. Cars are supposed to be ten metres from a junction, I’ve parked it 15 metres away. The passenger side wheel is touching the pavement so it’s still allowing vehicle to pass it.
“There’s ways to deal with the situation – you speak to the police or you speak to me to say ‘would you mind moving it?’ and I would explain the situation, but they are taking the law into their own hands and think its ok to damage other people’s property. If it was parked illegally then the police would remove it.
“If that vehicle moves I’m as well closing my business.”
A spokeswoman for Perth and Kinross Council said: “Within Inveralmond Industrial Estate we will exercise our powers under the Roads (Scotland) Act to remove any signs within the roads boundary which present a road safety hazard.
“We will also take steps to remove any signs located on council land without prior agreement.”
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland confirmed they were looking into the vandalism.
