Now the SNP attacks drivers! Fury as Holyrood plans to slap motorists with £100 fine for parking on the PAVEMENT
- Vehicles will be banned from parking on pavements under Holyrood plans
- AA said it was ‘disappointed’ there was no requirement for warning notices
Plans to hit motorists with punitive fines for parking on the pavement are ‘disproportionate and inflexible’, ministers have been warned.
Under plans drawn up by Holyrood, vehicles will be banned from parking on pavements and beside dropped kerbs, as well as double parking, and transgressors will be fined £100 by local authorities.
Motoring organisation AA has hit out at the proposals, saying it was ‘disappointed’ there was no requirement for warning notices for first-time offenders.
It also said many parking infractions did not justify drivers losing the loss of a day’s wage.
Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, said the proposals followed the ‘SNP-Green programme of imposing disproportionate and inflexible costs on motorists’.
Under plans drawn up by Holyrood, vehicles will be banned from parking on pavements and beside dropped kerbs, and transgressors will be fined £100 by local authorities (stock image)
He added: ‘It’s clear that many of the cases the AA highlights should be exceptions, and that it is completely over the top to impose fines of more than a day’s wages for relatively minor breaches.
‘The SNP should distance themselves from their extremist anti-car partners and at last start to tackle the disgraceful state of roads and pavement that has dramatically worsened on their watch.’
It is the latest front in the war on the motorist, which has recently seen the SNP-run Glasgow City Council impose a Low Emissions Zone in its city centre.
It means cars, vans, buses and lorries can be slapped with fines of £60 if they fall foul of strict environmental rules.
Meanwhile, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen are preparing to increase parking fines by almost 70 per cent to £100 in an effort to plug gaps in their funding.
Supporters of the pavement parking law have argued it is needed to protect people who are forced onto roads by cars that obstruct pathways, but its critics have said it would prove almost impossible for those who struggle to park their car in congested residential areas.
The law banning pavement parking was backed by MSPs in 2019, and government agency Transport Scotland has held a consultation into the rules whose introduction had been delayed.
In reply to the consultation, which closed on Friday, the AA said there were ‘certain types of pavement parking that deserve the full weight of punishment, such as parking on street corners and obstructing lines of sight’, but it was ‘disappointed’ that, in the context of ‘inconsiderate and obstructive parking’, there is not a requirement for warning notices for first-time offences.
It said not all offences deserved a £100 fine being imposed on drivers, and the level set needed to be considered within the Living Wage of £10.42 an hour, which sees many bring in £83.36 a day.
It is the latest front in the war on the motorist, which has recently seen the SNP-run Glasgow City Council impose a Low Emissions Zone in its city centre
The organisation said: ‘The AA does not believe that some of the offences that may incur a fine, such as a wheel on the kerb when parking is tight, justify the loss of a day’s wages for many, even with the penalty being halved within 14 days.
‘The size of the fine must reflect the gravity of the offence.’
The motoring group called for warnings to be issued for first-time lesser offences, a £100 fine for road safety offences and blatantly selfish obstruction of traffic and access to property, and a lower £50 fine for offences which Traffic Scotland deems inconsiderate.
Tradesmen have also raised concerns about the scheme and what it could mean for their business.
The AA urged transport bosses to implement exemptions and discretion for certain types of parking that do not appear to be covered in the 2019 law, such as for home repair and maintenance services and removals lasting longer than the 20 minutes allowed in the act.
‘Discretion with the threat of fining may have advantages in some circumstances,’ the AA said.
‘Simply fining a transgression without discretion won’t necessarily solve the problem at the time – once issued with a penalty charge notice, some recipients may carry on causing an obstruction longer than in a managed situation.’
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: ‘The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 has been approved by parliament and we are currently working on the necessary legislation which will allow this to be enforced by all local authorities.’
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