Home / Advice / Scotland pavement or double-parking ticket — parked to help at an accident or breakdown (section 55(10))

legalUK · ScotlandDifficulty: medium

Scotland pavement or double-parking ticket — parked to help at an accident or breakdown (section 55(10))

The pavement and double parking bans do not apply where the driver parked to give assistance at an accident or breakdown, the help could not safely or reasonably have been given otherwise, the vehicle stayed no longer than needed, and no part of it was within 1.5 metres of the far edge of the pavement. All four must be true.

Legal basis

Section 55(1): "This section sets out exceptions to the pavement parking prohibition and the double parking prohibition." Section 55(10): "The pavement parking prohibition and the double parking prohibition do not apply where— (a) the person has parked the motor vehicle for the purpose of providing assistance at an accident or breakdown, (b) the assistance could not be safely or reasonably provided if the vehicle were not parked on a pavement or, as the case may be, as mentioned in section 54(1), (c) the vehicle is so parked for no longer than is necessary for that purpose, and (d) no part of the vehicle is within 1.5 metres of the pavement edge which is furthest away from the centre of the carriageway (however that edge is bounded)." Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/373) regulations 10(2) and 10(4)(a). Read at legislation.gov.uk (latest available text) on 2026-09-09.

How to identify this in your case

Answer all four: (1) Did you park to give help at an accident or a breakdown (someone else's, or your own vehicle's)? (2) Could that help not have been given safely or reasonably without parking there? (3) Did the vehicle stay no longer than the help needed? (4) Was every part of the vehicle at least 1.5 metres from the edge of the pavement furthest from the road? If any answer is no, do not use this. Evidence: a breakdown-service record, photographs, a witness.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

I make representations under regulation 10(1) of the Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 on the ground in regulation 10(4)(a) that the alleged contravention did not occur. The exception in section 55(10) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 applied. On [DATE] I parked the vehicle at [LOCATION] for the purpose of providing assistance at [an accident / a breakdown: DESCRIPTION]. That assistance could not have been safely or reasonably provided had the vehicle not been parked as it was, because [REASON]. The vehicle was so parked for no longer than was necessary for that purpose: [DURATION]. No part of the vehicle was within 1.5 metres of the pavement edge furthest away from the centre of the carriageway. I enclose the evidence relevant to this ground, as regulation 10(2) requires: [EVIDENCE]. I ask that the enforcement notice be cancelled under regulation 11(2).

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Scan your PCN — our AI checks if this ground applies to your specific ticket, drafts a properly-cited appeal letter, and sends it for you where the council takes email — guiding you through their own online form where they use one, so you press submit. The win fee is only charged if you win.

Scan my ticket

Sources

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, sections 55(1) and 55(10)
Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/373), regulations 10(2) and 10(4)(a)