News In Focus
20 February 2007
Parking fines warning for councils
The legal error reported last week that resulted in the City of Edinburgh Council deciding against pursuing almost £6 million worth of unpaid parking tickets could have wider implications across Scotland.
Councils in six other areas may have to follow suit, as the wording on tickets issued between 1998 and 2006 did not state the date of the parking offence. The Scottish Parking Appeals Service has said that it is likely to agree with a decision of the High Court in England which ruled that tickets were illegal where the date of the contravention had been omitted. and has written to Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross and South Lanarkshire councils on the issue.
However the appeals service has said it would consider each case on its merits.
Glasgow and South Lanarkshire have maintained that their tickets complied with the law, though the forms of notice have been amended since the court ruling. Other authorities are considering their position.