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Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee 26 June 2019

26 Jun 2019 · S5 · Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Item of business

Transport (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

McNeill, Pauline Lab Glasgow Watch on SPTV

Amendment 268A would ensure that only someone who is employed by a public body could issue a parking enforcement notice, and that private companies could not be contracted by local authorities to issue parking enforcement notices. Amendment 268A would prevent private companies from issuing tickets with no authority to do so. I want to set out why Murdo Fraser’s amendments give me cause for concern, and why I lodged probing amendment 268A. First, I thank Murdo Fraser for his thorough explanation: that is the first time that I have heard the reasoning behind his amendments. Committee members are only too familiar with the fact that there is no requirement at stage 2 to submit a notice alongside amendments, so members can only read the amendments and try to understand what the member who has lodged them is trying to achieve. Murdo Fraser’s amendments would give to private companies wide-ranging powers that have not been tested, which causes me concern. My constituents in Glasgow have had no say about what I think would be quite sweeping powers. The amendments would introduce new keeper liabilities—apparently, because Scotland has fallen behind England in this area. I think that that idea should be examined. In many cases, Scotland does things differently—wheel clamping, for example, is not legal in Scotland, whereas it has taken England some time to legislate on that. Falling behind England in such matters does not give me cause for concern. As Murdo Fraser rightly said—I agree with him whole-heartedly on this point—the private car park industry has been notorious for giving drivers record-breaking parking tickets. In the first quarter of 2018, 1.5 million sets of vehicle records from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency were applied for. Murdo Fraser mentioned the work that CAS has done. It noted that in 2015 the highest number of hits on its website were in relation to this issue. A parking notice is issued every five seconds, and the DVLA is on course to share 6.5 million records with private firms. I ask committee members to consider whether they are satisfied that a code of conduct would be enough when the industry has, for the most part, a poor reputation among our constituents. Murdo Fraser said that only 25 per cent of fines are paid. Perhaps that is because people feel that they are being fined unfairly, which has been my experience with constituents. Car parks are owned by a variety of companies, including pension funds and finance companies. The cases that I know best are those involving town centre car parks, for which the rights have been sold to companies. Many supermarkets have done that. A lot of the cases that I get involve people who parked in a supermarket car park, went a short time over the period for which they were allowed to stay, and were issued with a parking notice. There is a remedy for the issue that Murdo Fraser outlined of people parking in spaces in housing estates, where they are not supposed to park. People have written to me about that issue. Members might be familiar with the Dundee case in which Ms Mackie, who was a persistent offender, parked in a residents’ parking bay that was for permit holders only. There is a remedy because, at the end of the day, there is a contractual obligation that can be enforced in court. As Murdo Fraser said, that is a civil matter.

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Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee 26 June 2019

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