Edinburgh pavement parking ban: Council hails scheme a success as fines start to fall

The number of fines handed to motorists for flouting Edinburgh's pavement parking ban has fallen, prompting council chiefs to hail the scheme a success.

Latest figures show a total of 2,313 parking tickets have been issued between the  the end of January, when the ban was introduced, and the end of April.  But the £100 fines issued in April numbered 644, down from 925 the previous month.

Edinburgh introduced a complete ban on parking on pavements in January. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

And complaints about parking on pavements, double parking and parking at dropped crossings have almost halved from a peak of 1,316 in February to 687 in April. 

In the first few months, the council has received around £85,000 from the fines. The ban was brought in to keep pavements clear of obstructions and make it easier for wheelchair users, people with buggies and those with mobility problems to get around.  

Transport convener Scott Arthur said: "The number of complaints is starting to fall because compliance is quite high. Things are starting to normalise. I'm proud of how the council officers have implemented this ban, but even prouder of how the public in Edinburgh have responded to it. It really has been transformative in a lot of areas, making it a safer and more equal city." 

Before the ban was implemented, the council had identified 556 "red" streets across the city, where it recognised problems with pavement parking. Now just seven streets are seen as having issues, for example where cars parking on the carriageway leave the street so narrow that bin lorries have difficulty getting past.

The council has a policy of not granting exemptions to the pavement parking ban, so it is now considering measures, such as introduction of yellow lines, to make the affected streets safer for emergency vehicles and bin lorries.

A breakdown of fines show that those issued for parking on the footway numbered 74 in January, 488 in February, 548 in March and 385 in April, totalling 1,495.

Fines for double parking were nine in January, 114 in February, 186 in March and 157 in April, totalling 466.

And fines for parking at a dropped crossing went from one in January to 38 in February,  191 in March and 122 in April, totalling 352.

Footway parking therefore accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total fines - 1,495 compared with 466 for double parking and 352 for parking at dropped crossings.