‘Pure greed and complete lack of compassion’: Readers react to return of on-street parking charges in Edinburgh on Monday

Charges for on-street parking in Edinburgh are set to resume on Monday.

The City of Edinburgh Council suspended all pay-and-display charges when lockdown began in March in a bid to help key workers during the coronavirus lockdown.

But from June 22, any vehicle parked incorrectly in a public, shared-use or residents’ parking space may be issued with a parking ticket.

Here is how some of our readers have responded to the news.

Kev Johnston said: “When many are returning to work, public transport is severely restricted, so cars etc are the only way to commute if you live outside the city.

“Pure greed and complete lack of compassion,” he added.

“Surely if you are a key worker and have a letter to prove it, parking should remain free for the foreseeable,” Babs Walker argued, “Only people making no necessary journeys should have to pay!

But David Knox was supportive of the measure, writing: “About time... Get all those that double park too.”

Jim Gray said the move was “Greedy to the core,” and Alph Blair called it “a joke”, claiming that “public transport is running a severely reduced service with limited seats on the buses.

“Good luck to anyone trying to get into the city centre for their work,” he added.

Lucien Romano raised the issue of reduced public transport services too, writing: “The council are only interested in money for trams and anti-car ideology, not getting folk back to work when public transport can only run at 25% capacity.”

But Henry Campbell Gillan asked the question: “Why should people using cars be treated any differently when it comes to paying for the privilege of planting their vehicle in a city street?

“After all, public transport users have to pay to plant their posterior on a seat,” he said, “Fair’s fair.”

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