Parking plans for city centre

PAY-AND-DISPLAY parking could be introduced to residential streets surrounding Perth city centre.

Residents would have to apply for permits to park for f ree outside their homes, under the strategy being considered by Perth and Kinross Council.

The wide-ranging review has been prompted by ongoing complaints about a “ring of steel” of commuter cars parked in residential and business areas during the day.

Areas around North Muirton regularly fill up with vehicles as nonresidents attempt to avoid charges in the city centre.

Councillors will tomorrow be asked to approve the action plan to crack down on “inconsiderate” parking, which a working group claimed was endangering public safety.

Some residents have raised concerns that emergency services could be prevented from reaching their homes because of badly parked cars.

It is proposed to create formal parking bays on more than 60 hot-spot areas around the city.

Hunter Hope, the council’s parking, public transport and civic contingencies manager, said the bays would stop drivers blocking driveways and corners. Vehicles sitting outwith t he markings could be slapped with a penalty.

If problems persist a time-limit of up to three or four hours could be introduced i n some areas, while in the worst affected spots pay-and-display machines would be installed.

Mr Hope said the first phase of parking bays would hopefully encourage positive behaviour by motorists, but tougher measures could be taken if issues continued.

NHS Tayside is raising awareness of the impor- tance of cervical screening as part of Cervical Cancer Prevention Week.

The colonoscopy unit has organised the weeklong Cervica 2020 event to encourage women to book themselves in for a smear test.

About one in four women living in Tayside are overdue for their smear test. Those who have never had a test or are long overdue are at an increased risk of cervical cancer and pre-cancer compared to those who have regular tests.

There will be a drop-in session at the Area 3

A TAYSIDE lawyer has been seve r e ly r epr i ma nded after calling a client “a sad and pathetic man” in a heated discussion over legal instructions.

Ross Porter, who ran his own practice in Perth, sent a series of emails to the man and his mother after taking issue with legal instructions they wanted him to carry out.

The man, whose name has been redacted from public documents, had asked for advice in a dispute with a letting agent.

Porter, 56, believed the man, named as Mr A, was seeking a “completely unrealistic” amount of money from the agent and ultimately said he did not have a case.

However, after being told by his client he was being “openly indignant, provocative and rude”, the lawyer replied with comments criticised by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) as “inappropriate”.

In an email sent on April 1 2014, Porter said: “In my dealings with you, you have struck me as the sort of person who doesn’t like to be told he is wrong. I’m telling you