Progress made on parking issues
I am sure readers of the PA will be very familiar with the complaints that have been raised over the years about the conduct of Smart Parking, the operators of the Kinnoull Street car park in Perth.
I have had many hundreds of individual constituents contact me to raise concerns about what they believe is the inappropriate issuing of penalty charge notices, starting at £60, and rising to £160 if not paid promptly.
This all led me to take a keen interest in the issue of regulation of private car park companies.
From my research, it became very apparent that the law in this area was inadequate.
It was simply not clear what the rights and responsibilities were, both of the companies involved and motorists who were parking their cars.
In 2017 I launched a consultation on a member’s bill in the Scottish Parliament on the regulation of private car parking in Scotland, which proposed the creation of an independent appeals system in Scotland, the capping of penalty charges, better regulation of signage in car parks, and regulation of the appearance of penalty notices.
I was pleased to have support for all these measures from those responding to the consultation, and have worked closely with the Scottish Government over the last two years.
In the meantime, my Conservative colleague at Westminster, Sir Greg Knight MP, introduced a private member’s bill which obtained both government and cross-party support, and has now become the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019.
This bill introduced for the first time a statutory code of practice which would be agreed between government and industry.
Adherence to the terms of the code of practice would be a requirement before any car parking company was able to access DVLA records, which are essential for the recovery of penalty charges.
This approach, in the creation of a statutory code of conduct, was endorsed by the Scottish Government.
This should deal with many of the abuses in the system.
There were other matters that needed to be dealt with by specific Scottish legislation, and I introduced amendments to the Transport (Scotland) Bill last month, which were agreed by the Scottish Parliament.
I am therefore delighted the package of reform I had been proposing to improve regulation of private car parking in Scotland has now all been agreed.
These new measures will take effect from a date in the new year, still to be advised, once the statutory code of practice has been finalised.
I will continue to take an interest in the regulation of private car parking in Scotland and want to monitor the effectiveness of these new provisions.
However, I believe that a substantial step forward has been taken to provide a fairer and more balanced system in the interests of both car owners, and the private car parking industry.
I hope this will make life better for those using the Kinnoull Street car park and all other similar facilities across the country.
• Murdo Fraser always welcomes feedback from constituents. He can be contacted at The Control Tower, Perth Airport, Scone, PH2 6PL, by email on murdo. fraser.msp@parliament.scot or by telephone on 01738 553676.