A retired teacher who refused to pay an English-only parking fine in Wales could face a £10,000 legal bill.
Language campaigner Toni Schiavone will appear in court in Aberystwyth for the fourth time on May 13.
It is over his refusal to pay an English-only parking charge notice - after the parking company One Parking Solution won an appeal to reintroduce the case in January.
This is despite the judge, Gareth Humphreys, warning that the company should carefully consider the value of continuing with a case that has already been "long, beyond unfortunate" and has cost the parking company over £10,000 in legal fees to date.
cymdeithas yr iaith -The Welsh Language Society - has called on the court to rule that English-only parking charge notices are insufficient as ruled by the judge Mervyn Jones-Evans in a recent case in Caernarfon, and on the Welsh Government to legislate to ensure the rights of Welsh speakers in the private sector are respected.
Mr Schiavone received the English-only £70 fine for not paying for parking in a car park in Llangrannog in September 2020.
The original case was thrown out of court in May 2022 because a representative from the parking company was not present and the second case in August 2023 was also thrown out because the case was presented late and under incorrect rules.
During the August hearing, One Parking Solution was ordered to pay Mr Schiavone's travel expenses of £27.90 for the hearing.
On 26 January this year, One Parking Solution won an appeal enabling them to continue prosecuting Mr Schiavone, after the judge ruled that there were no grounds to throw the first two cases out of court.
Speaking at the hearing in January, Mr Schiavone said he had received a letter with costs of £10,156.70 the day before from One Parking Solution.
cymdeithas yr iaith say translating the notice into Welsh would have cost the parking company just £60.
Siân Howys, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group said:"It is disappointing that One Parking Solution have decided to resubmit this case, but the real reason Toni must appear in court yet again is because the rights of people who live in Wales to use the Welsh language are not ensured in statute.
“We have seen other cases of this recently as HSBC and the energy company OVO have weakened or even abolished their Welsh-medium services, without any serious response from our Government.
"We call on our members and supporters to be present on 13 May to support Toni, and to demand that the right to use the Welsh language in all aspects of life is respected through legislation."
On 30 January, the Welsh Government voted against Heledd Fychan MS’s motion on behalf of Plaid Cymru in the Senedd to set Welsh Language Standards on a statutory basis for institutions in the private sector, such as banks, supermarkets and private car parks.
Language campaigner Toni Schiavone will appear in court in Aberystwyth for the fourth time on May 13.
It is over his refusal to pay an English-only parking charge notice - after the parking company One Parking Solution won an appeal to reintroduce the case in January.
This is despite the judge, Gareth Humphreys, warning that the company should carefully consider the value of continuing with a case that has already been "long, beyond unfortunate" and has cost the parking company over £10,000 in legal fees to date.
cymdeithas yr iaith -The Welsh Language Society - has called on the court to rule that English-only parking charge notices are insufficient as ruled by the judge Mervyn Jones-Evans in a recent case in Caernarfon, and on the Welsh Government to legislate to ensure the rights of Welsh speakers in the private sector are respected.
Mr Schiavone received the English-only £70 fine for not paying for parking in a car park in Llangrannog in September 2020.
The original case was thrown out of court in May 2022 because a representative from the parking company was not present and the second case in August 2023 was also thrown out because the case was presented late and under incorrect rules.
During the August hearing, One Parking Solution was ordered to pay Mr Schiavone's travel expenses of £27.90 for the hearing.
On 26 January this year, One Parking Solution won an appeal enabling them to continue prosecuting Mr Schiavone, after the judge ruled that there were no grounds to throw the first two cases out of court.
Speaking at the hearing in January, Mr Schiavone said he had received a letter with costs of £10,156.70 the day before from One Parking Solution.
cymdeithas yr iaith say translating the notice into Welsh would have cost the parking company just £60.
Siân Howys, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Welsh Language Rights Group said:"It is disappointing that One Parking Solution have decided to resubmit this case, but the real reason Toni must appear in court yet again is because the rights of people who live in Wales to use the Welsh language are not ensured in statute.
“We have seen other cases of this recently as HSBC and the energy company OVO have weakened or even abolished their Welsh-medium services, without any serious response from our Government.
"We call on our members and supporters to be present on 13 May to support Toni, and to demand that the right to use the Welsh language in all aspects of life is respected through legislation."
On 30 January, the Welsh Government voted against Heledd Fychan MS’s motion on behalf of Plaid Cymru in the Senedd to set Welsh Language Standards on a statutory basis for institutions in the private sector, such as banks, supermarkets and private car parks.
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FunTranscript
00:00It's a great shame that I have to be here today because it's a basic right that I have to have a service to the people of Welsh.
00:07It's disappointing that they're willing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on persecuting me rather than providing a simple proforma for the people of Welsh.
00:17It's important because it's an example of the way in which we have to continue to campaign for our basic rights as Welsh language speakers.
00:25We should need to do this. We should be providing the service through Medium of Welsh when we require it.
00:33And it is more important obviously for this company to prosecute me than to provide a simple letter through Medium of Welsh.
00:41So I'm here to support Tony in this, which I'd call it a pitiful case because this is one of Wales' official languages and Tony was given this fine in a Welsh speaking community.
00:57So I think it's stupid that this is even an issue.
01:0270 years ago I was one of the protesters who took part in one of the country's first protests on Trefechan Bridge, Pont Trefechan.
01:13And 70 years later in fact we're very near Pont Trefechan at the moment.
01:19I think there's a lot to do still in fact to gain justice for the Welsh language and for Welsh speakers.
01:27And I particularly object to the fact that a private company like the company in question connected with this particular case still in fact have the temerity to make a lot of money out of Wales.
01:39And yet they refuse in fact to acknowledge the fact that the Welsh language is a living language in Wales and indeed an official language in Wales.