Wirral Council has accused Shaun Marnell’s business of having a “complete disregard” for the law
09:59, 24 Aug 2025Updated 09:59, 24 Aug 2025
Shaun Marnell has criticised Wirral Council after it repainted double yellow lines on an industrial estate(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Wirral Council has accused a business of having “complete disregard” for the law after people hit out at “vindictive” parking wardens. Drivers on a Moreton industrial estate have been fined for parking on double yellow lines that have been there for more than 50 years.
Shaun Marnell runs an electric vehicle charging business on Tarran Way South in Moreton on the Tarran Industrial Estate. The business operates several rapid chargers both on his premises as well as on the public highway.
These electric vehicle charging points are understood to have been in place for several years but drivers have recently started being fined after double yellow lines were repainted across the entire estate. These have long been in place but Google Street View images show some of the lines faded completely in recent years.
Following the fines, Mr Marnell approached the ECHO to complain and has been supported by his councillor Colin Baldwin. He and others thought the lines were no longer in force.
However Wirral Council said the lines have been in place for at least 50 years and the electric vehicle charging points were actually installed without permission. Wirral Council said it had asked the business to remove the illegal installations.
Mr Marnell said he’d been asked by the council to remove them and insisted they had had no complaints from the public since they’d been installed. He questioned the need to seek permission as he claimed this was not needed when he installed them.
He wants the council to approve a licence for the chargers and provide parking spaces on the road to show “it’s a charging station and nothing else can park there.” He told the ECHO: “It’s important that we get this resolved straight away,” adding: “Give the situation the respect it deserves.”
Chris Harding, who does airport transfers, accused the council of “being a law unto themselves,” adding: “They are just making it impossible, especially if we can’t use the chargers’ in the road. I have been coming here for two years.”
Karl Woolfall said he was worried every time he parked his car on the highway(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Meanwhile taxi driver Karl Woolfall said a fine would impact his business and worried every time he parked up to charge his vehicle. He said: “It’s bonkers for want of a better word. It’s absolutely bonkers what they are doing.
“Someone is trying to improve stuff and they are putting obstacles in the way that do not need to be there.”
Mark Newbury, who is operations manager for environmentally-friendly taxi firm Maize Transport, said the double yellow lines and the enforcement of them by the local authority was “excessively frustrating.”
He told the ECHO: “I do not understand why they are here every day. They are not checking them every day everywhere else. It strikes me as a bit vindictive.
“We get support from one part of the council and get it taken away from another. I do not understand it. In my eyes, we are ticking the boxes the government want, the community want. We are ticking the boxes for a green future.
“Unless they are going to live here, we are going to do our damnedest to avoid them.”
Wirral Council was criticised over its approach to the double yellow lines(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Speaking to the ECHO, Cllr Baldwin criticised the fact the council didn’t ask people for their opinion. Legally councils do not have to consult if repainting lines.
He said: “If they just listened to people and used a little bit of common sense on things, everybody would be happy but they just get people’s backs up all the time.”
A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “Local authorities have a wide range of statutory duties covered by legislation which are there, in many cases, to ensure the safety of all residents. These include controlling what items or pieces of equipment can be installed on the public highway and enforcing parking restrictions in locations where they are deemed necessary.
“In this case it seems as though there has been a complete disregard for those laws. Firstly, the parking restrictions on the road in this location have been in place for at least 50 years, they are not new – the recent repainting of the yellow lines was to refresh them in areas where they had faded. It is simply untrue to suggest they are new and weren’t there and visible previously and as the restrictions aren’t new, no public consultation was necessary to repaint the lines.
“With regard to the EV charging points, a number of these were installed on and across the public footway in order that vehicles – primarily taxis – could be charged while parked on the yellow lines. Neither planning permission, nor consent to install equipment on the public highway, was in place.
“As a result, we wrote to the business to require them to remove just the EV charging points that were installed illegally on the street and reinstate the highway. If they did not comply, the council would arrange to do it and charge the cost back to the business.
“Wirral Council is committed to working with colleagues in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to significantly increase the number of electric charging stations in the borough and we recently consulted with residents on ideas for where best these could be located. Given the location of this business and the restrictions within the industrial estate, this would not be considered an appropriate place for roadside EV charging points.”
Mr Marnell in response said: “There needs to be people like me who put their head above the parapet to test these things because you just never get anywhere. I can’t change that.
“There’s so much red tape and nothing gets done. I feel like we had to. I have done everything I can to put them legally in the ground. I have been transparent with them and I have been trying.”