He's the Phantom Parker of Old Glasgow Town.

Meet Alan Love, the property tycoon who leaves his Roller wherever he wants, and damn the cost of tickets.

For months Mr Love has been parking his £250,000 "ultra-luxury" Rolls-Royce Phantom on city-centre double yellow lines, collecting - and paying - thousands of pounds worth of fixed-penalty notices.

Mr Love cheerfully admits he's happy to pay the fines, as long as he can keep his car close to his office. "I feel I am doing the council a favour," he said yesterday. "I am giving them a bit of revenue."

Council chiefs aren't so sure. They think the car - registration number 11UV - is obstructing the road. Miffed officials have even tried to impound the two-and-half-tonne motor but can't lift it on to the back of their truck as it's too heavy.

The authority has also received complaints from members of the public angry at what they see as brazen disrespect for the law.

"Glasgow City Council takes contraventions of parking regulations extremely seriously," said a spokeswoman yesterday.

"This individual repeatedly flouts the law but in doing so pays an extremely high price in parking fines. That is his choice. The council will continue to issue fines to any driver parking illegally.

"Yellow lines have a purpose - to allow premises to be serviced as well as to ensure the free flow of traffic."

Mr Love, who used to own the Drover's Inn at Inverarnan near Loch Lomond, said he is currently paying a maximum of £150 a week in fines - which are only £30 each if paid within two weeks.

His Rolls-Royce is nearly six metres long and two wide, making it difficult to park in municipal car parks. "The problem I have with my vehicle is that it does not fit in Buchanan Galleries or other major car parks," he said.

"I don't mind paying the fines," he added. "I get on quite well with the parking attendants."

Mr Love has had brushes with the parking authorities before. One row dates from when he built a drop-off point outside Lang's Hotel on Killermount Street, which he owned at the time.

The council kept giving him tickets for parking in his own drop-off zone, which had double yellows, but, argued Mr Love, belonged to him. The stand-off ended in talks.

Mr Love said he came back from negotiations to find his car had been ticketed while he was away.

There have been far worse parking menaces than Mr Love. The prize for biggest offender in Glasgow is held by an unnamed woman who, by January 2003, had collected some £28,000 worth of fines for parking on George Square. Another individual was said to owe £12,000.

Glasgow City Council in the last financial year made £5.5m from fines, a drop of £1m from the year before.

The Herald understands the council has recently issued Mr Love with a total of 74 fixed-penalty notices, all of which have been paid, a total of more than £2000. The Rolls, until recently, was not Mr Love's only car.

"I've seen him in a Ferrari and a Bentley," said a trader in Dundas Street, in the city centre, where the Phantom Parker is regularly to be found.

"We like it. We think he brings a bit of class to the street."

He may not be using the Rolls for much longer. The Herald understands council officials are now looking to get more powerful equipment to remove the 6-litre Phantom.

Mr Love has heard that rumour too. His answer is another dodge - a giant Dodge Ram Pick-up.

"I am ordering it from America," he said last night. "Because of the physical size of it, it just won't go on the back of a truck."