DRIVERS in Edinburgh were issued with nearly half of Scotland's parking fines last year.
The capital accounted for nearly 233,000 of the 484,000 parking tickets imposed across the country in the year to March, according to figures released by the Scottish Government. That is 638 tickets a day for drivers in the capital.
The figure w
as far ahead of the total of almost 150,000 tickets issued in Glasgow, which has a larger population.
Motoring groups warned councils not to be overzealous in issuing tickets, but were reassured that fines revenue was ring-fenced for transport improvements.
The number of fines issued in Edinburgh has fluctuated over recent years, but it now accounts for a greater proportion of the Scottish total.
This has increased to 48 per cent from 44 per cent four years ago, compared to 31 per cent for Glasgow.
The latest Edinburgh total was also up by more than 9 per cent on the previous year to 232,693 – bringing in £6.8 million in fines.
Drivers are issued with £60 penalties, which are halved to £30 if paid within two weeks.
The city council attributed the increase in tickets issued to better enforcement of parking regulation by NSL – formerly NCP – the firm which employs the city's parking attendants.
The council paid NSL £4.5 million last year for the contract, leaving more than £2 million of fines to plough into roads improvements.
The council added that the area of the city covered by parking restrictions had also increased over the last year.
Philip Gomm, a spokesman for the RAC Foundation, said: "The silver lining for Edinburgh motorists is that at least the balance of the money is being spent on the transport network.
"However, the city council must not regard raising revenue through parking fines as an alternative to balancing its books and allocating a substantial part of the normal budget to road maintenance projects and keeping traffic moving in the capital."
A spokesman for Edinburgh city council said yesterday: "The main objective of parking enforcement is to maintain safe, steady traffic flow, while ensuring turnover of spaces and productive use of limited kerbside parking.
"Parking attendants patrol beats and pay particular attention to main traffic routes, bus stops and Greenways with the aim of keeping all traffic flowing at peak hours and throughout the day.
The council spokesman added: "Any surplus revenues generated by parking enforcement are required, by law, to be reinvested in transport improvements."
The figures also showed the proportion of fines being written off or cancelled in Edinburgh came down from 17 to 10 per cent since last year.
However, cases remaining outstanding were up from 10 to 17 per cent.
The number of vehicles removed from streets last year increased slightly to more than 2,600 from around 2,550, but the figure was well down on previous years, when the total was around 3,500 vehicles.
Total parking fines issued by other councils last year included more than 50,000 in Aberdeen, 25,000 in Dundee, 15,000 in South Lanarkshire and 11,000 in Perth and Kinross.
In these areas as well as Edinburgh and Glasgow, such offences have been decriminalised and are dealt with by civilian parking attendants, rather than traffic wardens who are part of the police.
The full article contains 561 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
