Highland Council defends pavement parking enforcement in Inverness, Dingwall, Thurso, Wick, Nairn and other towns as one in four penalty charge notices go unpaid in first 14 months of Scottish Government’s national ban

Almost one in four pavement parking fines have gone unpaid in the Highlands since the national ban was introduced.

Penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued for the offence reached £65,800 by the end of March 2025, although £8100 of those were written off.

But from the remaining £57,700 owed, the council has only managed to recover £43,542.

That means £14,157 remain unpaid by motorists - more than £1000 a month on average in the 14 months since Highland Council began enforcing the legislation.

Just under 1000 pavement parking fines – 970 – were issued between the start of February 2024 and the end of March 2025.

The outstanding amount being chased on behalf of the council arguably raises questions as to the effectiveness of the ban as a deterrent, with recognised dangers posed for pedestrians by those breaking the law.

Highland Council had previously only issued details up to September 2024, telling us they would no longer update the publicly available figures.

We issued a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to secure the figures up to the end of the financial year and the local authority has since published them on its website.

A Scotland-wide ban on pavement parking, parking at some dropped kerbs and double-parking was agreed in November 2019 as part of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019.

Anyone caught can face a £100 fine, reducing to £50 with swift payment.

In December 2023, the Scottish Government passed responsibility for enforcing pavement parking and other offences from Police Scotland to local authorities, who were given powers to uplift vehicles.

Money raised through PCNs can only be spent on maintaining the service, with any surplus ring-fenced for traffic related projects.

Highland Council began enforcing changes to the law in February 2024 with an initial surge in fines issued.

FULL TABLE OF FIGURES AVAILABLE HERE

The first three months saw 353 fines issued within council boundaries, the great majority of which were in Inverness.

But since then, the number of penalties has dropped by as much as half in the monthly figures.

We asked Highland Council to explain the drop in fines issued, querying whether this was down to a reduction of pavement parking or a drop in enforcement efforts, with resources focused targeted elsewhere.

The council did not address this in their response.

We also asked whether the non-payment of fines was a matter of concern.

The figure of 24.5% non-payment of pavement parking fines up to March 2024 compares to a much lower figure of around 15% non-payment for general PCN fines within the council’s boundaries.

That suggests there is greater resistance to paying fines for pavement parking than other PCN offences.

A Highland Council spokesman, suggesting that non-payment was higher than we calculated, said: “Our parking team lead advises me that the document you are looking at is a working document where the ‘net received to date’ figure is based on the received amount for the parking charge notices issued that month.

“This is updated monthly as payment is received for tickets.

“Our recovery rate is generally around 70 per cent of the issue value which is a similar position to other authorities around Scotland.

“The Council makes every effort to recover funds for unpaid Parking Charge Notices.”

Councillor Ken Gowans, chairman of the Council’s economy and infrastructure committee, issued a reminder of the dangers that pavement parking poses.

He said: “Pavement parking is unsafe, unfair and now illegal.

“Many people face daily difficulties with pavement parking. It is dangerous and frustrating, especially for those with impairments or limited mobility.

“It can force people to take unnecessary risks, such as people using wheelchairs and buggies or prams without access to dropped kerbs can be forced onto the road, risking their safety.

“Even if you think you’ve left enough space or won’t be there for long, don’t fall foul of the new law and risk being fined.

“Our parking enforcement team have provided details on the council website, and I urge all drivers to make themselves familiar with the new regulations.

“We hope everyone will consider others and there will be limited need for enforcement.”

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