Council rakes in £1m from parking tickets
Police vehicle was one of 240 issued and later cancelled
Parking tickets have raked in almost £1million for Stirling Council since being implemented less than three years ago.
Since the introduction in 2017 total income from penalty charge notices issued on street and in council car parks since the introduction is £926,558 - £295,449 in 2017/18, £331,872 in 2018/19, and £299,237 to date in 2019/20.
Latest figures show that from October 1 to December 16 last year, 3099 parking tickets were issued. A total of 240 were later cancelled including for one which turned out to be a police vehicle.
Of the total tickets issued 419 were for not having an on street pay and display ticket, 396 were parked without a valid permit, 481 for loading/unloading, and 627 were parked in a loading bay during restricted hours.
There were 389 parked in a disabled bay without a badge.
Officers told the council’s environment and housing committee last Thursday that a separate campaign was being planned early this year to tackle the level of abuse of both disabled parking bays and loading/ unloading bays.
They added: “This impacts on access to our city centre and are essential for vulnerable members of our communities and local businesses. A total of over 1000 and 2000 PCNs were issued respectively for these offences during 2019.”
They said there had also been a reduction in PCN tickets being cancelled from 9.19 per cent to 7.74 per cent, a figure they put down to “tool box talks” introduced to ensure officers in the safer communities team were taking correct and consistent enforcement action.
SNP councillor Alasdair Macpherson said he had “never agreed” with the introduction of parking enforcement.
“The city centre is dying on its feet,” he added. “I’d rather these enforcement officers do other things, although I’m aware I’m probably the only one with that view. I was sitting thinking I was going to get a parking ticket just because I was delayed in the dentist.”
Committee chair, SNP councillor Jim Thomson, however said: “The reason for enforcement was because the police weren’t doing it and we had a huge problem with people abusing the situation and traders weren’t able to get the trade.”
Depute chair, Labour councillor Danny Gibson, added: “If you park where you are supposed to park and follow the rules of the road you will not get a ticket. End of story.”
Officers also said work was ongoing on a plan to introduce cashless payments for parking across the area.
Tory councillor Neil Benny said: “It’s a mystery to me why this hasn’t been done before now. We need to crack this. It’s getting embarrassing now.”