Pavement parking ban may lead to ‘flying’ traffic wardens
Third of councils don’t have legal powers to impose law aimed at protecting pedestrians
A flaw in Scotland’s new ban on pavement parking – due to be introduced tomorrow – has paved the way for “flying” traffic wardens.
Councils will receive the power to impose £100 fines on motorists who park their vehicles on the pavement.
But it can be revealed that a third of Scotland’s 32 local authorities councils do not have the “decriminalised parking enforcement” (DPE) powers deemed necessary to enforce the ban.
To help them enforce it, the new Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 allows councils without the powers to “borrow” traffic wardens from neighbouring local authorities who do.
However, Orkney Council scoffed at the idea of “flying in” traffic wardens from Aberdeen. Orkney Council said: “No conversations have been had with other local authorities in Scotland. However, the geographical and logistical challenges associated with sharing staff, together with the significant resource pressures being experienced by all councils, mean that this would be extremely unlikely to be feasible.”
Four years after the legislation received Royal Assent, the SNP Government says Scotland will finally be the first UK nation to introduce a ban on the practice, which endangers pedestrians. Several councils, like Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, say they simply won’t hand out the £100 fines and others suggest it could be 2025 before their prohibitions can get under way – six years after the change in the law.
Edinburgh will become the first local authority to enforce pavement parking laws next month but Glasgow said it would be next May before a meeting is held to determine the next step forward.
West Lothian and Dumfries and Galloway admitted it was unable to impose a ban because it does not have the DPE powers.
Inverclyde has no idea when it will introduce a ban and South Lanarkshire suggested it favoured a “softly softly” approach to enforcement once it is eventually introduced.
Stuart Hay, director of pedestrians’ charity Living Streets Scotland said: “Parking on the footway is inconvenient for us all and incredibly dangerous for older and disabled people, who are forced into the road and oncoming traffic. Mass exemptions seriously undermine the ban and will put people at risk if they aren’t introduced following rigorous assessments and consultation. “Without sufficient enforcement capacity, many groups, including disabled people, will feel badly let down. We want to see targeted and proactive action in known hotspots.” Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson MSP said:“the SNP have made their usual shambles of introducing a measure that everyone agrees with in principle.”
Asked about the unco-ordinated start to the new law because of a lack of powers, a Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “We understand that enforcement of the Regulations may initially be more difficult to achieve for those local authorities without DPE powers, and have been working closely with them to encourage them to be in a position to enforce.
“The Transport Act brought in powers that allow local authorities to share resources with other local authorities or to employee third parties to undertake the enforcement on their behalf. This was introduced in the Act to allow local authorities more freedom to choose how they would enforce.”