McVey wants employees to pay parking tax – and readers aren’t impressed

Business should pass on the cost of a workplace parking levy to staff to help cut car use in the Capital, council leader Adam McVey has said. We were inundated with readers’ thoughts.
Motorists face paying up to £10 a week to park at work in Scotland's capital.Motorists face paying up to £10 a week to park at work in Scotland's capital.
Motorists face paying up to £10 a week to park at work in Scotland's capital.

Andrew Paterson: “I hope this includes the council, for its councillors and employees. Also the MSPs, with no opportunity to add it to their expenses claims.”

Candy Pumpkins: “So the tram extension will be financed from ‘future fares’? Typical SNP thinking from McVey, spending money he hasn’t got yet. Not satisfied with turning Princes Street into a rundown tacky fairground, now they’re going to rip apart the business district as well. Watch companies shun Edinburgh for the more attractive locations in Livingston etc. More cars on the road and Edinburgh’s transformation into a post-SNP apocalyptic ghost town will be complete.”

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Gordon Smith: “Just how many of these new stealth taxes to pay for vanity projects and council shortfalls are we going to take? Unqualified councillors with little knowledge of anything, ignoring industry advice and public opinion have turned Edinburgh into an over-taxed, badly run almost bankrupt city! Time to get rid of these muppets.”

Bob Leponge: “This has to be the dumbest, most loathsome council ever, and I’ve lived through a fair few now. McVey is so bad he’s starting to make me feel nostalgic for Bungler Burns.”

Ali Sinclair: “Another nail in the coffin for our wonderful city. Targeting folk who just want to get to their work is cynical and mad. I can get to work in 20 mins in my car, 90 mins by bus; why should I waste two hours a day on the bus? Car owners already pay tax and insurance so we are being taxed twice. I just hope folk vote with their feet in the next elections and vote this lot out.”

Ken Johnston: “Provide decent public transport to the major business areas of Edinburgh Park and South Gyle from East, Mid and West Lothian first. At the moment the rail infrastructure can’t cope with commuters, so using cars is a necessity. Which bus services go to the west side of Edinburgh from East or Mid Lothian? Answer, none.”

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Kevin Connolly: “I hope it applies to the Lord Provost who has a BMW at his beck and call parked in the quadrant of the City Chambers.”

Alastair Wright: “Makes sense if park & ride facilities are provided.”

Jonathan Litewski: “The war on cars is progressing. It’s already a mission to drive in the city.”

Anne Allan: “Is this another ploy to get more passengers for the trams? The cost of living is high enough as it is in Edinburgh without more taxes on hard working people. Stop any more trams and save millions.”

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Al Thomo: “I’d like to see how many councillors pay for their own parking ... I smell an expenses claim!”

Marissa Knowles: “What an idiot; people will just park on the streets wherever they can and then residents will have difficulty getting parked at their homes, not to mention the disruption to emergency services trying to get access.”

Jim Moss: “What about all the Lothian Buses drivers who clog up the roads with their parked cars at work when they get free travel? Just look at the side streets round about bus depots. Residents can’t get their cars parked.”

Caroline Curry: “Very few workers have dedicated parking spaces. Companies would have to meter the spaces to be able to charge staff. Question though. Can councils charge businesses for providing parking on their own private land?”

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Gareth Hamilton: “Anything to get people to need more public transport. We don’t want an extension to the trams.”

Derek Scott: “Businesses are struggling and you want them to pay a tax that could put prices up for everything they sell.”

John Hendry: “Is this one of the same clowns that thought 20mph speed limits would be good idea? The lot of them need replaced before they kill off the city.

Christopher Arkle: “It is looking like this new tax will not be charged to people working in the public sector, but will self-employed people working from home have to pay to park? So many questions that are not being answered make it look like this really could be ‘poll tax on wheels’.

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Mark Smith: “I’d happily pay not even an hour’s wage a week for my own parking space.”

Helen Deas: “I don’t know what the big deal is about paying for parking at work – thousands of people like me have paid for years for parking to go to work.

John Innes: “If you want to cut car use, build businesses where people live, not in monstrous business parks miles from anywhere. Or provide public transport from where people live, not the city centre. East Lothian to the Gyle is a nightmare by public transport.

Lorraine Blyth: “Charging people to park at work will not reduce car use. All it will succeed in doing is further congesting residential areas and making it impossible for people like my parents who are 70-plus with various health conditions being unable to actually park their car, which is vital for their mobility and independence, outside their home.”

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David Sandilands: “It would still be cheaper for me to drive at £10 a week parking compared to £13 a day return on ScotRail.”

Aileen Horne: “The council need to get their own business sorted out first and then they may see how they can save money themselves instead of introducing new policies that are going to cost everyone else. Some people who work are struggling to make ends meet as it is. How does this make sense? Have they thought about people who have to get kids to childcare, nursery or school who rely on cars? We don’t even have a decent transport system to help or encourage people to stop using their own cars. Again, it’s obviously people who are the high earners and can make ends meet at the end of the month that have made this decision. Council get a grip!

Mohammed Sajad Razzaq: “During the rush hour hundreds of thousands of people bring their cars into the city causing traffic problems, wearing down the roads and causing pollution. Edinburgh people have no choice but to put up with it, even though it’s a nightmare. It is morally right to ask these commuters to pay towards the upkeep of the city. Why should Edinburgh residents, many of whom are struggling financially, be left with all the costs of running the city?”

Sandra Stow: “How about shift workers, where they have no choice but to use a car to go to work, as the public transport does not run at the times they need it? People such as public transport staff – will they be exempted?”