The ban has split opinion in the city
Finding parking in a city can be a challenge at the best of times, with many of us resorting to finding a space on the street and mounting the pavement.
But anyone caught doing this in Edinburgh could land now themselves a fine with the makeshift parking move.
The city council has become the first in Scotland to introduce the ban, due to the “persistent issue” of pavement parking on 500 streets.
From today, (January 29) drivers who decide to park on the pavement could be fined £100 for doing so.
The move is designed to protect pedestrians, especially people in wheelchairs and those pushing buggies. But some have voiced concerns that by banning motorists from being able to mount the pavement, this will cause issues for bin lorries and emergency service vehicles on narrow streets.
The BBC reports that City of Edinburgh Council is the first in Scotland to implement new powers given to it by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which came into effect last month.
Parking at dropped kerbs and double parking will also be banned, with an exemption for delivery drivers.
The role of enforcing the new rules will be given to current parking attendants who already patrol the problem areas.
The ban has been welcomed by some locals, such as Linda Gariock, 73, who told BBC Scotland: “There should only be parking on one side of the street.
“People with buggies and wheelchairs can’t get past and they are having to go on the road where they could get knocked down. It is selfish and absolutely ridiculous.”
Another local said his father-in-law has “days where he can’t leave the house because of the vehicles on the pavement as he is in a wheelchair.
He added: “It’s frustrating and not fair on him.”
But others aren’t happy with the ban, and are worried about wide vehicles such as bin lorries and ambulances not being able to make it down narrow streets if there are cars parked on both sides.
Victoria Watson, 50, said: “The council has left us with no solution as to how emergency service vehicles and bin lorries get down the street when cars are parked on both sides of this narrow street.”
She labelled the ban “very heavy-handed, ill-thought-out and very irresponsible.”
However, Scott Arthur, City of Edinburgh Council’s transport and environment convener, said he believed drivers would have the common sense to realise if their parking was blocking the road.
He said: “If a driver can’t park with all four wheels on the road without blocking traffic, we would encourage them to park elsewhere. Neither parking on the footpath nor blocking the road is safe or acceptable.”
He added that the council has already started to see improvements on the worst affected streets after they sent out letters warning people of the ban.
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