Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) Levels for Decriminalised Parking Enforcement

The Road Traffic Act 1991 introduced provisions enabling the decriminalisation of most non-endorsable parking offences in London and permitted similar arrangements to be introduced elsewhere throughout the UK.

The relevant provisions of the 1991 Act were commenced in Scotland in June 1997 and, to date, 23 out of 32 Scottish local authorities have obtained decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) powers. Please find further information about which local authorities have DPE powers.

Under the scheme, participating local authorities administer their own parking penalty schemes including the issuing of penalty charge notices (PCNs) to motorists breaching parking controls in specified areas. The DPE regime seeks to ensure that parking policies are implemented effectively and the underlying objective of DPE operation should be to achieve 100% compliance with parking controls and therefore no penalty charges.

In areas with DPE, stationary traffic offences cease to be criminal offences enforced by the police and instead become civil penalties administered by local authorities. Enforcement of certain parking offences such as obstructive or dangerous parking remains the responsibility of Police Scotland. 

Parking policies are an essential part of a local authority’s traffic management strategy and should be designed to manage the traffic network effectively, improving or maintaining traffic flow and reducing congestion. This improves road safety and the local environment and encourages, where appropriate, increased use of more sustainable and healthy forms of travel. 

The integration of enforcement powers and parking policy should enhance local authority accountability to its residents for overall parking policy, as well as enabling better monitoring of the effectiveness and value of parking controls to ensure that such parking policy is responsive to public needs.

A breach of parking rules within an area where DPE is in force will require payment to the local authority of a penalty charge. Proceeds from on-street parking enforcement is not an additional revenue source for local authorities and is used to finance their parking enforcement procedures.

Any surplus accrued by local authorities from their DPE regimes is ring-fenced and may only be used for certain transport-related purposes, including:

• the provision and maintenance of off-street parking
• the provision or operation of (or facilities for) public passenger transport services
• for road improvement projects in the local authority area

In 2021, the Scottish Government undertook a public consultation on penalty charge notices for parking enforcement proposals that relate to the Government’s existing guidance on penalty charge levels and also the amount of the penalty charge for the parking prohibitions contained in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. You can read the penalty charge notices for parking enforcement - consultation analysis report.