Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi guys,

I parked on a single yellow line on a Sunday, believing the normal rule of: 'weekdays after 6:30pm (or other start time stated)and on Saturday and Sunday free and allowed to park' was applicable.
When parking there in the morning I looked around for any specific signs -- none present.

On finishing work I found the PCN. Did not know why. Apparently this is a 'Restricted street'.

My understanding was along these lines:
RAC website:

"Single yellow lines with no sign.
If you can’t see a sign with rules stating that you can't park, then parking is allowed outside of the restricted hours that are displayed.
Outside of these hours, you can park on the single yellow line for free – without any restrictions."

So no signs --  normal rules apply. That is my genuine understanding.

There are no relevant signs anywhere near to where I was parking.
(one about permit parking, I wasn't parked in that box. one about paid parking further back up the road in the white boxes)

Here's the GSV location.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GusTJ9aZWkrRQ8vN9

How could I have known without any signs? Or am I wrong in that assertion. Do I have a case?

Thank you!



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I parked on a single yellow line on a Sunday, believing the normal rule of: 'weekdays after 6:30pm (or other start time stated)and on Saturday and Sunday free and allowed to park' was applicable.

Please tell us where you got this idea of a "normal rule" from.  The fact is there are no rules at all on when parking may be restricted, and in recent years, councils have been rolling out more and more parking restrictions and creating more and more Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs). Key to all this is the fact that all moneys received from parking penalties go straight into council coffers. So councils now employ literally armies of CEOs (Civil Enforcement Officers), to patrol streets in big cities 24x7.

Are you a regular driver into Edinburgh ?

I had a look on the Edinburgh website and with the map facility, it shows you parked in "Controlled Zone 3" which is part of the Central Controlled Parking Zone. Typical of this dozy council the display doesn't tell you the controlled hour for the yellow lines ! However another search shows the yellow line restrictions as:-

Central Controlled Zone (CPZ)
Monday to Saturday: 8:30 am to 6:30 pm
Sunday: 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm

I suggest you submit representations that on your way into the street where you parked, you did not pass any sign telling you that you were entering a controlled zone and ask where the sign was that you missed that gave the single yellow line restrictions. Because most people just cough-up when they get a PCN, councils like Edinburgh get away with poor signage. Here is the sign at the boundary of the zone you entered, approaching from the south on the A701 : -
https://maps.app.goo.gl/3D8B9Rm4rd1B8geQ8
It tells you nothing about single yellow line times, and below it are two signs for a double0yellow line that applies 24x7 and needs no signs at all, in fact the signs contradict the legal meaning of double-yellow lines.
Sorry, got the boundary wrong !!
Here are the signs as you drive up the A701
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxuSE8nVuE6bhQ269
And if f you drive up the Dalkeith Road, you also eventually get to these signs: -
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Afir7hRNxetMBnaw6
These signs give the correct display and what the restricted hours are for the single-yellow lines. Double yellows need no times as they apply 24x7

Not knowing your route taken to get to where you parked, I cannot check for signs. but you must have passed one of these signs. If a sign is missing the PCN is void.

A controlled parking zone controls single yellow lines and no timeplates are needed on the lines unless for some reason they want that line to have different times to the CPZ.

You could certainly claim that with such huge zone sizes, the council should place repeater signs throughout the zone. However, whether this would win an adjudication is another matter. We get very little feedback from Scottish cases that go to adjudication.
The whole of the City of Coventry within the ringroad is a controlled zone, and repeaters are in place.

As you said earlier in the thread, when I pointed out the sign you should have passed, you checked your route and found that there was a sign. So as the sign is there, I don't think you have a good case to take to adjudication.
That's my opinion anyway. The principle to follow when parking on single yellow lines is to always make sure you know the actual restriction and never assume anything.