AN OLIVE branch has been offered to residents battling controversial parking fines - but some may miss out.

While private firm Smart Parking, which owns the rear car park at Morfa Hall, has refused to budge on penalties resulting from"poor signage" for a free parking scheme over Christmas, Denbighshire County Council (DCC) may be able to offer some recompense if appeals are rejected.

However, residents contesting a similar signage dispute, which muddied the boundary covered by council owned and private pay and display meter are being treated as a "separate issue".

Following a Rhyl Town Council meeting on Wednesday, January 16, councillors have been advised to instruct residents to pay the fines to avoide any additional charges, before submitting documents to DCC for possible recompense.

County councillor Jeannette Chamberlain-Jones, of Rhyl South ward, said: "My argument is, DCC did erect poor signage which was misleading to everybody going into the carpark, it's been a great big mess - will the council offer to pay the fines?

"What were told is that, with the right evidence the council will look to giving some recompense to anyone fined for parking after 3pm at Morfa Hall.

"People paying at the wrong meter is a separate issue."

In an e-mail shown to the Journal, head of planning and public protection services Emlyn Jones has indicated that residents who have been fined as much as £200 will be unlikely to receive the full sum from the council.

Mr Jones writes: "Smart Parking refused to discuss any cases with us, or the number of cases involved and just advised that recipients of fines should appeal to them directly.

"We know that our mistake has caused confusion and therefore we propose to reimburse recipients of fines the sum of £50 as a goodwill gesture, where they have been caught out by the “Free after 3” signs."

Cllr Brian Blakeley hit out at the offer: "I think this is an insult to our residents, to offer £50 after some will be charged £100 because they held back hoping this would be settled by both parties before now.

The issue has raised concerns over the place of private car parks in the town, following disputes at the Matalan carpark last year between residents and Danish company Nectar Asset Management, who had not been granted permission to charge at the site.

Cllr Chamberlain Jones added: "I have to commend the council, they have tried very hard to speak with the company who have dug their heels in and been quite bloody minded.

"It's such a shame that these ruthless parking companies come into Rhyl with such aggression, it takes the focus off all the success the council has had providing free parking places in the town."

In a response to Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane show to the Journal, Smart Parking's national account manager Rachel Howard writes: ""We have defined that during this period, it was identified that there had been an inadvertent use of Denbighshire County Council signage on the boundary of the Morfa Hall property.

"Having spoken with Denbighshire County Council directly, we were informed that a technician would be despatched to site and that the signage would be removed from the boundary immediately.

"However, it now transpires that this did not happen, which is why the confusion has developed. From our perspective, we do not believe that we have acted incorrectly or unfairly. Indeed, we did everything within our power to alleviate the issues once recognised.

"To that end, we perceive this issue to be entirely the fault of Denbighshire County Council and their inability to communicate both with ourselves and the general public."

Denbighshire County Council and Smart Parking have been approached for comment.