Drivers hit with notices over illegal parking
MORE than 750 warning notices have been issued to drivers parking dangerously ahead of the introduction of illegal pavement parking fines later this year.
The introduction of these fines could be enforced in Glasgow as early as September according to a report presented to members of the environment and sustainability committee.
During the meeting, councillors were informed that while no set date for the new rules to be implemented in the city was yet confirmed, a total of 751 warning notices had already been issued about the legislation to try and encourage people to change how they park.
A council officer said: “We are going to be commencing enforcement as soon as possible.
“We are going to be giving people some warning that’s about to happen as people may have been doing it [ pavement parking] for some time so we think it’s only fair that we give them a warning of at least a week to allow people to adjust and adapt to the new legislation.
“We are currently issuing warning notices. We are issuing them on streets primarily where we see complaints about pavement parking where it causes a nuisance or a danger to other users.
“To date we have issued 751 warning notices to try and raise awareness of that legislation about the impact of those behaviours and try to give people that knowledge and awareness and change how they park.”
The national ban came into force in December last year following the implementation of the Transport ( Scotland) Act 2019 which introduced the statutory framework for a ban on pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs.
The council must complete the following three stages before the ban can be enforced:
Stage one – audit of streets – is a study which is currently underway to identify streets where exemptions, which are assessed by the local authority and applied to an individual street, are not required.
Stage two – assessment of streets – looks at the criteria for permitting any exemptions, which are set out in the Act.
Stage three – implementation/ enforcement – which shows the latest estimate for pavement parking fines to be imposed is by September.
Enforcement will begin by issuing penalty charge notices for double parking, parking at dropped kerbs and pavement parking on streets.
Councillor Allan Gow said: “I have a couple of streets in my ward where pavement parking has been going on for a long time. One of the things I would have a slight concern about is I think we are likely to find ourselves moving towards the need for formal traffic orders – whether they be single yellows or double yellow lines.
“Do we have any sense of the extent we may find ourselves wandering off the pavement parking issue and regulation and find ourselves with a backlog of TROs ( Traffic Regulation Orders)?”
A council officer replied: “The guidelines for pavement parking are actually very similar to TROs.
“In order to grant an exemption you have to sign the area where pavement parking is permitted and that requires an order to do that.”