Steve Stewart (pictured) is currently running everything for his 85-year-old dad (Picture: Highland News & Media)
A man is being forced to close down the car wash he’s run for nearly 40 years without any compensation because it’s been deemed an ‘eyesore’, his son claims.
David Stewart, 85, is under ‘terrible stress’ at the thought of having to walk away from his business on the harbour front in Nairn, Scotland.
Highland Council’s order to shut up shop by December 22 has come while the harbour is being assessed for potential development projects in the future.
David’s son Steve, who is currently looking after everything because of his dad’s deteriorating health, said the whole saga is ‘absolutely appalling’.
‘What’s the rush? A car wash might be desirable and included in the future,’ he told The Inverness Courier.
The family say they ‘accept the car wash is a bit of an eyesore’ but blame the site’s slump on Covid forcing them to shut – as they were never able to reopen afterwards.
‘But it would not take much to get it up and running again and that was our intention,’ Steve said.
The family had to shut down the car wash during the pandemic and then never reopened (Picture: Google Maps)
He added that he and his dad would also be prepared to sub-let the car wash or close down with compensation – something the family claim the council has not offered.
The car wash is technically on Common Good Land, meaning it belongs to the local authority.
Steve said: ‘Given the fact he has leased this site for so long my father rightly feels entitled to be compensated if he’s going to be pushed off.’
The family say they have rented the land since 1986 but the council reportedly has no record of this.
The council said it ‘cannot publicly comment on individual arrangements with their tenants’.
David is a well-known figure around the harbour, as he has spent his life doing business there.
He ran a fish-curing shed, a fishmonger’s and was involved in several other projects before monetising the unused wash bays and opening the car wash.
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The pensioner’s son said it is ‘absolutely appalling’ what the council is doing to his dad.
