Highland councillor’s blue badge trial delayed at Inverness Sheriff Court
The trial of a Highland councillor accused of faking disabled parking blue badges so drivers of tour buses owned by her could use the restricted spaces has been delayed.
The case against Maxine Smith (64), of Calrichie Cottages, Invergordon, who represents Cromarty Ward 6 on the Highland Council, was called at Inverness Sheriff Court and new dates were fixed.
Smith was due to stand trial on May 20 but Sheriff David Harvie heard that it should be adjourned now for legal reasons. He set August 26 for the trial with an intermediate diet on July 30 to check on defence and prosecution readiness.
Smith hit the headlines when she resigned from the SNP party group on the council in 2020 and is now a member of the Highland Alliance.
According to Companies House, she is also a director of Thistle Excursions, which offers bus tours around the Highlands to cruise ship passengers disembarking at the port of Invergordon.
Smith again did not appear at Inverness Sheriff Court.
The charge against the councillor states that on April 3, 2019 and November 30, 2022 at Outram Street, Invergordon, she uttered as genuine to employees of the Highland Council, a blue badge which had been altered without the authority of the local authority.
It also alleges that a previous badge had been photocopied and laminated and the badges were left on display without her being present, allowing the drivers of tour buses owned by her to obtain use of restricted parking.
