A motorist will have to cough up almost £3000 plus interest in unpaid private parking fees after legal action was launched against him.

Combined Parking Solutions took Edward Wales to court for £4950 for repeatedly parking at Sky Park on Houldsworth Street in Glasgow.

It claimed that on 33 occasions between March and August last year he left the car for longer than two hours, contrary to parking conditions set out.

There are a number of red signs informing motorists the maximum stay is two hours for customers of the nearby McDonald's restaurant.

On Wednesday, the day the case was due to go to a civil hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, the company and Mr Wales reached a settlement figure of £2890 plus interest.

Angela McCredie, on behalf of the firm said: "There appears to be a misconception out there that private parking charges aren't legally enforceable by the parking company and actually the authority contradicts that and there is clear authority that they are enforceable."

There are a number of signs at the car park site warning of the conditions, otherwise people will receive a fixed parking charge of £100 which is reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days and increasing to £150 per ticket to cover costs if it remained unpaid.

The company claimed that on each occasion Mr Wales was issued with a ticket he did not appeal, and that he later said he had been told and read online that charges for private parking were not enforceable in Scotland.

Mike Perkins, operations manager of Combined Parking Solutions, who was also at court, said: "Yet again this is another case of someone logging on to the internet forums or listening to unqualified people that parking charges are not enforceable and yet again the courts agree they are fully enforceable and they continue to do so.

"If Mr Wales had consulted a real solicitor from the outset he would have only received one charge at £60 and not almost £3000.

"Combined Parking Solutions are currently reviewing over 500 cases for legal action in Scotland alone, many for just one ticket, and fear we will hear this story about bad advice being given many more times.

"I can only suggest even if people have received bad advice and ignored charges, it is not too late to contact us and settle at a much lower amount than it will be once legal action has commenced."