A £20M ATTACK ON MOTORISTS

Hard-pressed drivers ‘unfairly’ handed tickets Councils cash in as parking f ines reach record high

SCOTLAND’S drivers have been hit with a record number of parking fines – 1,200 tickets every day – raking in a staggering £14 million last year for councils.

And on top of the massive cost of parking tickets, drivers had to stump up another £5 million over the year in fines for driving through city bus lanes in a war on motorists’ wallets. According to research carried out by The Scottish Mail on Sunday, an unprecedented 448,020 tickets – known as Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) – were handed out last

year. The most common reasons for the penalties include parking on double yellow lines, in residents’ bays without a permit, or in a pay-and-display area without a valid ticket.

Last night experts accused councils of being ‘aggressive’ and said motorists were being targeted ‘unfairly’ to fund cash shortages.

Roger Lawson, a spokesman for the Alliance of British Drivers, said: ‘This is an attempt at councils trying to get more money. We fear local authorities are threatening traffic wardens by saying their contracts won’t be renewed if they don’t meet quotas.

‘This is incentivising wardens to become more aggressive toward drivers and fine people more – to a point that they won’t even let drivers off with the odd two minutes of over-parking. It is very unfair on car owners.’

Using freedom of information laws, we asked Scotland’s 32 councils to provide annual figures on PCNs for the past five years. Figures from the 25 local authorities who replied revealed drivers were hit with 448,020 fines last year.

This brought in an extra £13.9 million for councils.

Edinburgh was the most punishing area for drivers with 184,964 fines raking in £5.3 million.

Glasgow City Council issued 133,901 parking tickets between April 2016 and March 2017, generating £4.8 million.

Aberdeen City Council handed out the third highest number of penalties in Scotland, with its latest annual figures showing 42,163 fines costing drivers £1.2 million.

Drivers are typically fined £60 for parking errors. Fines have to be paid within 28 days or else the penalty increases but it drops by 50 per cent if paid within 14 days.

The worst area to be fined for parking was George Street in Edinburgh, followed by the city’s Chambers Street and St Andrew Square. St Vincent Street, Bath Street and Sauchiehall Street were the worst areas to be caught out in Glasgow.

In Aberdeen, drivers received the most fines in King Street and George Street.

A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said it was vital to keep traffic moving and fines helped ensure that and encouraged a frequent turnaround of spaces.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said the charge notices were issued to drivers who chose to ignore parking restrictions and were a necessary service.

Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Liam Kerr MSP said: ‘These figures show that there are a staggering number of fines being handed out around Scotland.

‘With Scottish drivers already facing high running costs they can hardly afford to pay out so much in fines, and we need to discover why there has been this increase.

‘If it is due to councils trying to recoup extra cash, then they need to find a better way than through hammering motorists.’