Edinburgh council announces how many £100 fines issued for pavement parking in a year

Edinburgh council chiefs said pavement, dropped curb and double parking was “heading in the right direction” despite revealing nearly 8,400 fines had been issued for the offences since enforcement started a year ago.

A total of 5,153 fixed penalty notices (PCN) have been issued to motorists parking on pavements up to Sunday - three days before the first anniversary on Wednesday of the crackdown started.

A further 1,612 fines were imposed for parking beside dropped kerbs and 1,629 for double parking.

Pavement parking enforcement started in Edinburgh on January 29 2024 | Lisa Ferguson/The Scotsman

It also came as Glasgow City Council started enforcing the ban on Wednesday, although Scotland’s biggest city said it would only issue warning letters initially and had yet to say when the first fines will be imposed.

Drivers face a £100 fine, which is halved if paid within two weeks.

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Edinburgh City Council, which was the first in Scotland to enforce the ban, said the number of fines had gone down since the summer and the problem had been eradicated from a lot of streets.

Transport and environment convener Stephen Jenkinson said: “Since we first introduced these changes one year ago, we’ve seen many residents and visitors modify their parking habits accordingly, with the problem of pavement parking disappearing in many streets across our city.

“We’ve also seen a gradual decrease, outwith the busier summer months, in PCN fines being issued for pavement parking, which shows we’re headed in the right direction.

“Every driver is responsible for parking their vehicle considerately, and where this would not cause an obstruction to the pavement or road. We brought the pavement parking ban in to provide a safe and accessible environment for everyone, especially those with sight impairments, mobility issues or pushing buggies.

“We’ve also heard from many people who really appreciate clearer, wider pavements and who no longer need to walk on the road as a result of the ban. I’m proud that we took this decision to make our streets as safe and accessible as possible.”

A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said the initial warning notices were “to allow drivers to adjust to the new arrangements”. They said: “Where we enforce will be guided by where complaints are received.”

Unlike the zero tolerance stance taken by Edinburgh, Glasgow has already exempted some streets from the ban.

Its spokesperson said: “Glasgow’s initial assessment of city streets found there will be no exemption from the pavement parking ban where parking restrictions are already in place or where the road is at least 7.5 metres wide, which allows safe passage for a fire engine when cars are parked on both side of the road.

“The remaining city streets are now subject to a further phase of assessment to determine whether other measures to control parking are appropriate before an exemption can be considered.”

A Dundee City council official has criticised the slowness of other local authorities to start enforcing the ban.

Parking and sustainable transport team leader John Berry said in November that cracking down on such illegal parking was an “absolute no brainer”. He said he was “pretty disappointed” that few councils had yet to follow the lead of Dundee and Edinburgh.