Scottish drivers ‘used as cash cow' while fly-tippers escape fines
Scotland's councils have hit drivers with more than £25 million of parking fines while 'effectively legalising' dog fouling and littering, it has been alleged.
Figures obtained from the country's local authorities showed they had issued more than 600,000 parking fines, worth a total of £25.1 million, in the 2023-24 financial year.
But over the same period, only 273 dog owners were fined for failing to clean up after their pets, with the penalties issued totalling £9,700 across the whole of Scotland.
Fewer than 2,000 people were fined for littering, with half of Scotland's 32 councils issuing no penalties at all. Two local authorities – Glasgow and North Lanarkshire – were responsible for the vast majority of the £78,580 of fines issued across Scotland.
Overall, nearly £2,600 of parking fines were issued for every £1 of penalties for dog fouling, and around £320 for every £1 penalty for littering.
Stephen Kerr, a Tory MSP who obtained the figures, said they showed that most local authorities had 'effectively legalised' littering and dog fouling.
He added councils were 'all too eager to take part in the SNP's war on motorists' by issuing 605,512 parking fines in a single year.
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