Councils Make £33.5M Parking Profit

Scottish councils have made a record profit from parking charges and fines, figures show.

Almost half of the £33.5 million profit was made by Edinburgh City Council where £15.3 million was raised, while £10.3 million was made by Glasgow City Council and £5 million in Aberdeen.

The analysis from the RAC Foundation shows a total of £73.3 million was raised across the country through parking in 2013/14, while the combined cost to councils of running parking activities was £39.8 million.

It left a profit of £33.5 million, up £200,000 on the previous year.

The RAC said councils need to set out where the profits are going.

The analysis came from data returned annually to the Scottish Government by local authorities.

It showed that 16 councils made a profit, 13 made a loss and parking operations in the Shetland Islands broke even.

Two councils, East Lothian and North Lanarkshire, did not provide accounts.

Not all councils provided information on the number of penalty charge notices issued over the year but there were 230,000 in Edinburgh and it is estimated there are around 700,000 issued each year across the country.

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: These numbers tell the definitive story of who is making what from public parking in Scotland."

Not all authorities are generating a surplus but overall we are talking about big money."

Nobody wants a parking free for all but when we are talking about such large sums, local authorities should be transparent with residents and drivers about what their parking policy is, why charges are set at the level they are and where the profits are going.''