Fresh calls have been made to allow council staff to administer tickets in a notorious illegal parking hotspot at Aberdeen Harbour.
At the moment, the city council’s traffic wardens have no jurisdiction in the Regent Quay area because it falls under the authority of the Harbour Board, which means the responsibility of preventing illegal parking falls to the police.
However, concerns have now been raised after a member of the public photographed officers parking their vehicle on double yellow lines close to Characters Coffee House on the already crowded street in order to carry out their duties.
Harbour councillor Michael Hutchison said: “I am pleased to see the police are giving parking in Regent Quay some attention, because I have been contacted by a number of people, who are concerned about the parking here.
“I appreciate some will see the irony of the situation, but the police are entitled to park on double yellows for operational reasons and parking enforcement is an operational matter.
“Ideally, parking here would be enforced by the city’s traffic wardens, who tend to be on foot, but the attempts to transfer enforcement power from the harbour have struggled to come to anything.”
His stance differed from harbour councillor Ryan Houghton, who added: “While people will be happy the police are enforcing the law and acting against obstructive parking, some may find their methods a bit hypocritical.”
A police spokeswoman said: “Officers were responding to complaints from the community in relation to obstructive and illegal parking during the morning of July 6, and a total of six tickets were issued in relation to illegal parking.
“As they are operational response officers, their vehicle is required to be accessible and the nearest parking option would not have been suitable, should a call requiring an immediate response have come in.”
There was no immediate response from the Harbour Board.
