Dunfermline has overtaken Kirkcaldy as Fife’s parking fine capital for the first time after a year which saw another fall in the number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued.
Fife Council still managed to rake in more than £500,000 from the practice in 2019/20, according to a new report, but the number of valid PCNs stood at 19,554 compared with the 21,600 dished out over the previous 12 months.
With enforcement activity still mainly focused on main urban areas, Dunfermline has emerged as the region’s main hotspot with 5,439 fines issued, with Kirkcaldy dropping to second spot with 5,284 and St Andrews remaining third with 4,957.
The reasons for the overall drop are not immediately clear, although officials believe free or reduced parking pilot schemes trialled in certain areas coupled with the start of lockdown in March have helped to skew the figures for the past financial year.
Derek Crowe, roads and transportation services senior manager, acknowledged that the deployment of parking attendants can often be a contentious issue but stressed wardens were not on some sort of mission to nab offenders.
“It is important to note that the number of PCNs issued does not fully reflect the activities of “PAs do not have booking targets to achieve, this being a common misconception with some members of the public.
“The parking attendants’ primary role is to ensure motorists comply with the various parking regulations in Fife.
“In this regard there are many patrols taking place where PCNs are not issued as no contraventions have occurred.”
Mr Crowe also paid tribute to the council’s whole parking team in how they deal with angry individuals, either in person, over the telephone or when faced with what he called “demanding correspondence”.
“In the face of such challenging behaviour the team has remained resilient and maintains a fair and consistent approach to all of its customers,” he added.
“Whilst the use of body CCTV units as well as the use of conflict management techniques helps to reduce the incidences of antisocial behaviour directed towards PAs, this does still happen.
“The council adopts a zero-tolerance policy in terms of any abuse of our staff and all incidents are recorded and investigated and reported to the police where appropriate.”
Figures show that the number of successful appeals rose from 2,157 to 2,265 year-on-year, while the council’s running recovery rate dropped from 87.19% to 84.76% last year.
More than 11,000 fines were paid in full within 14 days, which sees the initial penalty fall from £60 to just £30.
Buckhaven saw a massive rise last year, going from typically single figures to 44, but lead consultant Scott Blyth revealed that was down to requests from the community to enforce parking restrictions at disabled parking bays at Levemnouth Academy.
Eleven Fife towns and villages were fortunate enough to see no PCNs issued in 2019/20, namely Ballingry, Coaltown of Wemyss, Crossford, Crosshill, Freuchie, High Valleyfield, Kingseat, Limekilns, Methilhill, Strathkinness and Wellwood.
Fife’s worst offenders
15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20
Dunfermline 4172 4807 5423 5382 5439
Kirkcaldy 5263 6535 6235 6217 5284
St Andrews 4667 5759 5583 5691 4957
Inverkeithing 814 874 993 749 734
Leuchars 143 112 542 691 583
Cupar 386 492 625 544 475
Markinch 135 183 390 207 270
Burntisland 186 253 233 330 267
Cowdenbeath 169 161 242 364 207
Leven 133 168 193 259 187
Anstruther 72 261 252 160 154
Glenrothes 99 148 166 86 117
Leslie 14 15 47 75 117
Newburgh 99 79 70 63 106
Rosyth 79 74 50 82 81
Kinghorn 46 48 64 56 79
Aberdour 59 41 59 82 71
Newport on Tay 19 39 49 53 59
Kincardine 30 17 26 26 46
Buckhaven 2 2 8 5 44
Falkland 27 33 34 66 37
Lochgelly 22 25 39 40 36
Kelty 10 15 27 34 34
Cellardyke 4 26 60 20 32
Lower Largo/Lundin Links 18 6 46 41 31
Kennoway 5 3 19 16 28
Halbeath 16 7 58 26 20
Cardenden 14 13 29 28 19
Dalgety Bay 89 33 33 28 18
Auchtermuchty 1 12 1 9 14
Tayport 1 8 10 17 13
