Transport (Scotland) Act 2019

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019

2019 asp 17

The Act

Part 6 – Pavement Parking, Double Parking and Parking at Dropped Kerbs

Enforcement of parking prohibitions

Enforcement of parking prohibitions – section 59

374. Subsection (1) confers power on the Scottish Ministers to make regulations making provision for or in connection with the enforcement of the pavement parking, the double parking prohibition and the dropped footway parking prohibition.

375. Subsection (2) sets out examples of the kind of provision that may be made in these regulations. In particular, the regulations may make provision for or about:

• the devices that may be approved by the Scottish Ministers for use in connection with the detection of the contravention of a parking prohibitions (these devices are likely to include cameras);

• the notification of penalty charges;

• timing and manner of payment of a penalty charge;

• reviews and appeals in connection with the imposition of penalty charges– it is intended that a right of appeal against the a penalty charge will be available to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in certain circumstances following an unsuccessful review;

• the manner of enforcement of a penalty charge;

• steps that may be taken by (or on behalf of) a local authority following the cancellation of a penalty charge, which may include issuing another penalty charge in respect of the same contravention.

376. The regulations may not confer power to stop motor vehicles (see subsection (3)) but they may create criminal offences to be triable summarily (punishable by a fine of no more than level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000) or a lower amount as may be prescribed by the regulations) (see subsection (4)(a)). In addition, the regulations may provide that a penalty charge is not required to be paid, or is to be refunded, where the conduct in respect of which the penalty charge is issued is conduct that is the subject of: criminal proceedings, a fixed penalty notice (within the meaning of section 52(1) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, issued as an alternative to an offence), or a penalty charge (issued under section 66(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1991 under the decriminalised parking regime which applies in the majority of Scotland’s local authorities) (see subsection (4)(b)).

377. Under subsection (4)(c), the regulations may provide that a record produced by a device that is approved under or in accordance with regulations under section 49(1) is sufficient evidence of the fact that is recorded in that record in the circumstances specified in the regulations.

378. Regulations under subsection (1) are subject to the affirmative procedure where they create a criminal offence and are otherwise subject to the negative procedure – see section 72(3).