Drivers would rather risk ticket than pay for parking
● Day’s worth of parking in capital is in some cases more expensive
Growing numbers of motorists in Edinburgh are choosing to park on yellow lines and public bays at the risk of receiving a ticket rather that pay for parking.
Inconsiderate motorists are causing problems for buses and other drivers by accepting the £30 fine rather than pay for a day’s worth of parking, which in some cases is more expensive.
Now an Edinburgh council crackdown will see vehicles towed away or clamped to halt persistent offenders flouting parking rules.
Edinburgh City Council’s transport and environment committee has approved proposals for vehicles with ten or more unpaid parking tickets over a three-month period to be clamped – while any cars which have been subject to 15 parking tickets, even if they have been paid, face being towed away if they flout the ban. The persistent offenders will also lose their grace periods often used by enforcement officers at the start of the day on some single yellow lines and in public parking bays.
The tough stance comes after a feeling of frustration among some councillors that the Scottish Government will not allow councils to increase the £30 penalty fee – while in some parts of the city centre it is the same cost, or if not cheaper, to pay the £30 fine rather than pay for a day’s worth of parking.
If cars are towed away it currently costs motorists £150 for the vehicle to be released, plus the penalty fee. Some Scottish local authorities also charge a daily fee for “storage”. Currently, only untaxed vehicles are regularly clamped across Scotland, carried out by officials from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Green Councillor Chas Booth said: “Many vehicle owners drive and park responsibly so they get angry at those drivers who seem to treat parking fines as little more than a parking charge and who regularly flout double yellow lines.
“The council needs to be much more assertive in clamping down, quite literally, on those who break the rules regularly.”
Transport and environment convener Lesley Macinnes said: “A tiny minority of persistently inconsiderate drivers cause an enormous of inconvenience and upset. We are finding solutions where we canto take definitive action against persistent offenders.”