We are the McCallum family: Mia, Isara and Fergus and we live in Pitlochry. We want to open a Thai restaurant here in Pitlochry using two refurbished British Rail carriages. One is the First Class kitchen carriage and the other a First Class dining carriage. We have restored the very same carriages that ran through Pitlochry in the 80's and 90's.

We have planning permission on a site at the very rear of the Rie-Achan Car Park next to the railway track.

Our carriages will take up 12 of the parking spaces and we have agreed to replace, at our expense, those spaces and fund all the necessary changes to the Car Park that will allow the carriages to be sited there. But we’ve hit a snag.

The Property Sub-Committee decided to consider if they should advertise the site to see if any other interested party might like to lease the site instead. This is fine, we're happy to put our project up against others. Unfortunately when the matter was considered at a meeting of that committee on June 14th, three local people presented objections and it was decided not only not to proceed with our project, but not to grant a lease on the site at all. After everything that had gone before this was a very surprising decision.

The loss of car parking is perceived as the biggest hurdle.

We’d very much like to present this matter to the Committee again on the basis of the following proposition:

That we have agreed to replace the lost spaces in full, at our own expense, and complete the works required by the Council in order to provide a home for our beautiful carriages and thus enable us to open The Wee Choo-Choo Thai restaurant.

We think that our concept is unique and appropriate and exciting and will add more colour and vibrancy to the offer available in Pitlochry. If you agree with us, please sign our petition so that we can show the Council that our project has your support.

With thanks from all of us!