Glasgow drivers face fines as pavement parking ban enforced
Glasgow City Council has started to enforce a law which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2019 following years of campaigning
Drivers in Glasgow are being warned they would be fined £100 from today if they park with the wheels of their vehicles on pavements.
Glasgow City Council has started to enforce a law which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2019 following years of campaigning about the inconvenience and danger it poses to people who are blind or partially sighted, as well as those in wheelchairs or pushing children in buggies and prams.
Local authorities were given the powers to issue fines in December 2023 for pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs.
Fines will be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.
To begin with parking wardens will issue warnings to allow residents to become accustomed to the changes.
There are exemptions for streets which are judged to be too narrow to ensure safe access for emergency vehicles.
To be considered for a pavement parking exemption you must fit the following criteria: Insufficient parking availability in your surrounding area, road is too narrow for emergency services to pass when are parked on the carriageway and the footway leaves a space of 1.5 metres between vehicles and the edge of footway when car is parked on pavement.
Alan Stewart, a registered blind man from Glasgow Southside, said: “Cars here park on both sides of the pavement, I am forced to walk onto the road to simply get to public transport.
“The combination of everything on the streets getting in in your way for example a car, a wheelie bin, and just the quality of the pavements is all a struggle when you are visually impaired.
Glasgow follows a year later than Edinburgh who have had this ban in force since January last year.
"I can barely get my car out now"
Deborah Ringrose, a resident of Largs, said: “I can barely get my car out now to get to work in the morning, a lot of the cars are being hit by other vehicles because there is not enough space to get past.
“There have been no exemptions made to our street which is one of the furthest back streets in Largs, you would never expect traffic wardens to be here at five o’clock ticketing cars.
“In the past two weeks, the bin lorry has not been able to get down the street to even empty the bins.
"I'm forced to walk onto the road"
Alan Stewart, a registered blind man from Glasgow Southside, said: “Cars here park on both sides of the pavement, I am forced to walk onto the road to simply get to public transport.
“The combination of everything on the streets getting in in your way for example a car, a wheelie bin, and just the quality of the pavements is all a struggle when you are visually impaired.”
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