An Edinburgh visitor has appealed a parking ticket issued to him after leaving his car in what he was sure was a "perfectly legal" way to park.
Scott, who wishes to be known by his first name only, came to the capital for a day to visit his family in the Trinity area on Monday, June 6.
Parking his car along Inverleith Place at approximately 3pm, the 34-year-old took his dog for a walk in the neighbouring Inverleith Park and returned to the car at around 4.30pm.
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Upon returning to his car, Scott was shocked to find a Penalty Charge Notice stuck under the wiper blade. He said: "Confused, I opened it to find I had allegedly contravened some sort of parking restriction.
"Free parking around that area during the week is tricky to find, but I noticed a short stretch of road between some double yellows and a set of "Pay and Display" bays, which at the time were active, according to the sign.
"Along this stretch were the remains of a very worn-out line. The parts of the line that were still there were white, and I'm sure anyone else who looks at them would agree: not even slightly yellow.
"There was a driveway entrance along that short stretch of road and a wall, so I assumed the white lines were old "access protection" markings - which I should note are entirely advisory and not legally enforceable. Regardless, I decided to park alongside the wall to avoid blocking the resident's driveway."
Confident to have been parked in a "perfectly legal" way, Scott took to the City of Edinburgh Council's portal to open a dispute against the £60 parking fine he got, explaining that there was no marking on the road and no way to tell if the "Pay and Display" rule applied to it.
The council replied stating Scott had parked on a single yellow line. Scott said: "I couldn't believe what I was reading.
"They had sent me pictures taken by a parking warden of my car, claiming that the reason I was ticketed was that I had "parked on a single yellow line". Astoundingly, their own photographic evidence attached to the response shows my car parked on a white line."
Stunned, Scott did a research of his own and found that the spot he was parked on once had a double yellow line on it - not a single yellow as the council claims and not a white line as it seems to have now - bringing the puzzlement to a whole new level.
Scott said: "Even the parking warden and those responsible for handling ticket challenges can't tell what kind of line it was supposed to be. So how was I to?
"The council are responsible for ensuring that these markings remain clear. Drivers cannot be expected to know what colour a line used to be, only what colour it is now - and at the time of parking, what was left of that line was white.
Scott has not yet paid the fine - and is not intending to - prepared to challenge the ticket further and take it to court if the need occurs. He said: "This sort of behaviour from the council should not be tolerated by drivers.
"If they want to continue handing out tickets for parking offences, then they need to make sure the markings are clear. And the correct number of lines. In the correct colour."
Commenting on the incident, a City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: "Anyone who does not agree with the outcome of their parking ticket challenge to the Council can appeal the decision via the independent Parking and Bus Lane Tribunal for Scotland service."
