Calls are being made for Welsh residents to ignore English-only fines after the case against Welsh language campaigner Toni Schiavone was today thrown out of court.

The £70 fine had been issued to Mr Schiavone after he parked his car in Llangrannog’s notorious public car park in September 2020.

The car park, which is managed by One Parking Solution, had beensthe subject of complaint for several years as a result of what motorist have labelled ‘unfair fines’ and also its refusal to issue Welsh language correspondence when requested to do so by members of the public.

When Mr Schiavone was first summoned to appear at the Aberystwyth Civil Court in May 2022 for non-payment of the fine, he requested that his case be conducted in Welsh. But when the parking company failed to appear, his case was thrown out.

According to Cymdeithas yr Iaith, One Parking Solution continued demanding payment from Mr Schiavone and the company refused to provide him with a Welsh-language fine as requested. As a result, the case was once again brought back before Aberystwyth court when an appeal was lodged by One Parking Solution.

Despite the fact that a counsel from the company was present at this week's hearing, the case was thrown out as the result of a technical matter.

Speaking in court following the hearing, Toni Schiavone said: “The travel costs of the counsel alone are more than the cost of translating the fine, and the cost of conducting the case are a hundred times or more the cost of providing a Welsh fine. The company’s attitude has been completely contemptuous and completely against the rights of Welsh speakers.”

The judge ordered that One Parking Solutions pay the travel expenses of Mr Schiavone. The defendant said that this money would be donated to the charity Cancer Research Wales.

Following the case, Siân Howys, of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group, said: “We are pleased that the judge ruled in favour of the defendant, as in a similar case in Caernarfon, where the judge Mervyn Evans-Jones ruled that the defendant did not need to pay an English-only fine.

“It is becoming increasingly evident that these companies need to change their attitudes towards the Welsh language. To put pressure on them we will today be launching a campaign encouraging people not to pay for parking in car parks with English-only signs, nor to pay the resultant fines.

“The Government should set standards in this area and for other businesses, such as supermarkets and banks, so that there is a requirement for the private sector to provide their services in Welsh.”