Scots drivers warned over new parking rules coming into force next week

Daily Record

19 hours ago

Drivers will be expected to pay £100 if caught breaking the rules.
Drivers in parts of Scotland are being warned of new parking restrictions that will be enforced next week. From Monday, August 18, motorists who park on pavements, drop kerbs, or are caught double parking in Falkirk will be slapped with parking tickets—also known as Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).
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Drivers will be expected to pay £100, which is reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days. The ban applies to parked, stationary, or idling vehicles on private and public roads where one or more wheels are on the footway. Emergency vehicles and waste lorries will not be affected, and delivery drivers will also be exempt, as long as deliveries take less than 20 minutes to be completed.
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Legislation introduced by the Scottish Government in 2019 banned pavement parking and gave local authorities more power to enforce it.
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Local authorities were given permission to decide if and when the measures would be implemented. So far, they have been enforced in areas including Ayrshire, Stirling, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Perth, and Kinross.
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Earlier this year, members of Falkirk Council agreed that the fines should be enforced in a bid to make it easier for people in wheelchairs, parents with prams and the visually impaired to get about.
The legislation allows local authorities to exempt some areas, and all 2,366 streets in the Falkirk area were assessed for this purpose. Twenty-one streets are now being considered for exemption or mitigation.
Where there are exemptions, these will be clearly signed.
Engineering design manager Gary McGregor said officers are still happy to consider requests for exemptions, and he believed it would be "a moveable feast" as areas and streets will change in the years ahead.
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Two new staff members will be recruited to the council's team of traffic wardens, bringing the total to eight.
The new roles will also allow the council to introduce a back shift, as most pavement parking occurs in the evenings at the end of the traditional working day.
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Introducing the report, SNP councillor Paul Garner said Falkirk had looked at the 16 other authorities that have already implemented the legislation and learned from that.
He said: "This is something we've been pushing for for some time and I'm happy to see it now being implemented.
"I think the approach is the right approach and hopefully residents will appreciate what we are trying to do."
Labour councillor Siobhan Paterson said that while most of her constituents welcome the change, it would make parking very difficult for some residents. She asked if the council could consider creating extra car parks that residents could use to mitigate these issues.