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Scotland pavement parking — exemption order or statutory exception applies

Scotland's pavement parking ban started on 11 December 2023 and applies across the whole country — it is not something each council has to switch on. What councils can do is the opposite: a council may make an "exemption order" for a particular stretch of pavement, and where one is in force the pavement parking ban does not apply there. That is worth checking first. Be aware it lifts only this one ban — any other restriction on that street, such as a yellow line or a loading ban, still applies. The law also sets out ten fixed exceptions the council cannot override, and it takes some vehicles outside this ban altogether: a goods vehicle over 7.5 tonnes is not covered by it. Important: that is not permission to park on the pavement. Parking a goods vehicle over 7.5 tonnes on a footway is a separate criminal offence under section 19 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, so a driver outside the civil ban can still be prosecuted. Finally, a ticket can only be issued on the say-so of a properly appointed enforcement officer in the council's uniform, or by an approved camera.

Legal basis

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 section 50(1), which provides that "A person must not park a motor vehicle on a pavement", in force throughout Scotland from 11 December 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/250); section 50(4), under which "motor vehicle" takes its meaning from section 185(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 but "does not include a heavy commercial vehicle"; section 51(1), under which a local authority may make an exemption order "providing that the pavement parking prohibition does not apply to a footway" specified in the order; section 55, which sets out the exceptions, including section 55(6)(d) where "the vehicle is so parked for no longer than is necessary for the delivery, collection, loading or unloading and in any event for no more than a continuous period of 20 minutes"; section 58(3), under which "A penalty charge notice may be issued under subsection (2) only on the basis of" … "conduct observed by an authorised enforcement officer" … "a record produced by an approved device", and section 58(6), under which an authorised enforcement officer must be an individual "appointed in connection with the enforcement of the pavement parking prohibition" and "in a uniform of a type determined by the local authority in accordance with any directions given under section 67(1)"; Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/373) regulation 10(4) (grounds for representations) and regulation 12 (appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within the appeal period, defined by regulation 11(7) as "the period of 28 days beginning with the date of service of the notice of rejection").

How to identify this in your case

Check three things. First, ask the council whether an exemption order under section 51 covers the footway where you parked — if one does, the ban does not apply there. Second, check the ten exceptions in section 55: emergency services, road works, waste collection, postal deliveries, a registered doctor, nurse or midwife giving urgent care, a business delivery or loading of no more than a continuous 20 minutes, parking wholly inside an authorised or designated parking place, parking with a uniformed constable's permission, parking to save life, and parking to help at an accident or breakdown. Most of those also require that no part of the vehicle was within 1.5 metres of the far edge of the pavement. Third, check the vehicle and the ticket: a goods vehicle whose operating weight exceeds 7.5 tonnes is outside this civil ban entirely (though not outside the separate criminal offence in section 19 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, so do not treat it as permission), a contravention dated before 11 December 2023 is not enforceable under this regime, and the ticket must come from an appointed enforcement officer in uniform or from an approved camera.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be rejected 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.

Dear [COUNCIL], Re: Pavement parking penalty charge notice [PCN_NUMBER] — vehicle [REG] I make representations under regulation 10(1) of the Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 on the ground that the alleged contravention did not occur. [Use whichever applies:] — Exemption order. I ask the authority to confirm whether an order under section 51 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 is in force for the footway at [LOCATION]. Where such an order applies, the pavement parking prohibition does not apply to that footway and no contravention can have occurred. — Statutory exception. The vehicle fell within section 55([SUBSECTION]) of the Act: [SET OUT THE FACTS — for a business delivery, the premises served, why it could not reasonably be done without parking on the pavement, that no part of the vehicle was within 1.5 metres of the far edge of the pavement, and the number of minutes parked, which must be no more than a continuous 20]. — Vehicle outside the prohibition. The vehicle is a heavy commercial vehicle within section 20(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, having an operating weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes, and so falls outside the definition of "motor vehicle" in section 50(4) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. The pavement parking prohibition cannot apply to it, and no penalty charge is payable under these Regulations. (This ground goes to the civil prohibition only and is not advanced as a claim that the parking was lawful.) — Basis of issue. Under section 58(3) a penalty charge notice may be issued only on the basis of conduct observed by an authorised enforcement officer or a record produced by an approved device. I ask the authority to confirm which applied, and, if the former, that the officer was appointed under section 58(6) and in a uniform of a type determined by the authority in accordance with directions under section 67(1). Please cancel the penalty charge notice. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Sources

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 sections 50, 51, 55 and 58 (Part 6)
The Parking Prohibitions (Enforcement and Accounts) (Scotland) Regulations 2023 (S.S.I. 2023/373)