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Scotland pavement or double-parking ticket — police, ambulance, fire, coastguard or armed-forces use (section 55(2))

The pavement and double parking bans do not apply where the vehicle was being used for police purposes, for ambulance purposes or an emergency response requested by the Scottish Ambulance Service Board, for a function of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service or HM Coastguard, or for naval, military or air force purposes, where that purpose would likely have been hindered otherwise and no part of the vehicle was within 1.5 metres of the far edge of the pavement. There is no duration condition in this exception.

Legal basis

Section 55(1): "This section sets out exceptions to the pavement parking prohibition and the double parking prohibition." Section 55(2) (as amended by S.S.I. 2023/347 from 27 November 2023): "The pavement parking prohibition and the double parking prohibition do not apply where ...— (a) the motor vehicle is being used— (i) for police purposes, including for the purposes of the National Crime Agency, (ii) for ambulance purposes or for the purpose of providing a response to an emergency at the request of the Scottish Ambulance Service Board, (iii) for or in connection with the exercise of any function of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service or Her Majesty's Coastguard, or (iv) for naval, military or air force purposes, (b) the achievement of the purposes, or the exercise of the function, would be likely to be hindered if the vehicle were not parked on a pavement or, as the case may be, as mentioned in section 54(1), and (c) 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)." (the "..." after "where" is legislation.gov.uk's marker for words omitted from subsection (2) by S.S.I. 2023/347; it is reproduced as the site prints it.) 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

Use this only if the vehicle itself was being used, at that time, for one of the listed purposes: police (including the National Crime Agency), ambulance or an emergency response requested by the Scottish Ambulance Service Board, a Scottish Fire and Rescue Service or HM Coastguard function, or naval, military or air force purposes. Off-duty use by a member of one of those services does not count. Then answer: would the purpose likely have been hindered without parking there, and was every part of the vehicle at least 1.5 metres from the far edge of the pavement? Evidence: the service's confirmation of the deployment.

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(2) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 applied. On [DATE] the vehicle was being used [for police purposes / for ambulance purposes / for the purpose of providing a response to an emergency at the request of the Scottish Ambulance Service Board / for or in connection with the exercise of a function of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service / for or in connection with the exercise of a function of Her Majesty's Coastguard / for naval, military or air force purposes] at [LOCATION]: [DESCRIPTION]. The achievement of that purpose, or the exercise of that function, would have been likely to be hindered had the vehicle not been parked as it was, because [REASON]. 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).

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Sources

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, sections 55(1) and 55(2)
The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Amendment Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/347), regulation 2(5)
Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/373), regulations 10(2) and 10(4)(a)