Police slam double yellow bin parking

Published on Friday 27 February 2004 00:00

THE Capital’s police chief has complained about the council parking giant wheelie bins on double yellow lines.

Lothian and Borders Chief Constable Paddy Tomkins has pointed out the yellow lines are put down for the safety of drivers and pedestrians.

And he has suggested the city council is open to accusations of "double standards" when it is fining drivers 60 for parking on double yellows.

The fact that bin lorries have to block off so much of the street when they collect rubbish has also worried the Chief Constable, who has suggested the "unnecessary obstruction" could lead to more "conflict between road users".

The force has written to the council asking it to stop the practice. But the authority today refused to bow down and insisted it had carried out its own safety checks before each bin was put in place.

The council’s stance has been described as "absolutely appalling" by critics.

The police intervention is the latest controversy to hit the council’s plans to replace bin- bag collections with communal wheelie bins. There have been widespread protests that the bins are ugly and take up too much valuable parking space.

Neil Greig, head of policy for the Automobile Association in Scotland, said: "The council certainly appears to be guilty of double standards.

"We would endorse absolutely everything the Chief Constable has said. These double yellow lines are clearly there for a good reason, and that is to keep the traffic moving." The Chief Constable’s criticism of the council has emerged in a letter he wrote to Marchmont councillor Marilyne MacLaren, an outspoken critic of the city’s containerisation policy.

Today, Cllr MacLaren said: "I think the police are absolutely correct on this one and it’s absolutely appalling the council isn’t listening to them."Action should be taken immediately to remove [the bins] from double yellow lines."

In his letter, Mr Tomkins said: "One of the main influencing factors in determining the need to introduce ‘double yellow’ as opposed to ‘single yellow’ lines is that of road safety. In other words, if road safety at a location is compromised by the uncontrolled presence of parked vehicles, then the need for more stringent 24-hour prohibitions becomes necessary.

"Whilst we are not content with the practice of positioning these receptacles on ‘double yellow lines’, we also feel there is another, potentially more serious, issue in relation to servicing of these containers.

"With the need to have HGVs parked alongside the bins to empty them, then during this time the capacity of the road is seriously restricted, presenting other road users with what could be described as an unnecessary obstruction to manoeuvre around.

"We fear that this situation may lead to an increase in the potential for conflict between road users, with obvious consequences.

"Apart from the road-safety issues outlined, the enforcement of ‘yellow-line’ infringements is a matter for the council and it could be construed that these working practices are seen as the application of a double-standard approach."

A spokesman for the council said: "In order to assist the successful roll-out of containerisation in the city, a number of methods were adopted to locate containers.

"In each case, a full safety audit was carried out. It should also be noted that most containers are smaller than the majority of cars. For these reasons, at no time was road safety compromised by the introduction of these containers.

"Discussions are currently on-going to investigate a number of other methods for the longer term. These include the relocation of containers to adjacent sites, and/or minor alterations to parking restrictions.

"In a small number of cases, some minor changes to pavements may be required."