Yellow Peril

Or blue meanie as they are sometimes now called in Edinburgh.

Traffic wardens used to sometimes be called yellow perils after the yellow band on their uniform hats. Some years ago Edinburgh privatised its parking ticket system and the company uniform has a blue band instead.

Now, taking a leaf out of the "privatised street" idea an enterprising company that runs a private parking spot nearby my work has decided to branch out. No longer happy with just putting private parking fines (at three times the cost of a real parking ticket from the council) on cars parked in their car park they have decided to start ticketing cars parked on public streets nearby.

I got back to my car yesterday to find a ticket on it and a brand new sign (that I had to hunt for) at the other side of the road at the other end of the street proclaiming that this was a private road and that company restrictions apply.

Needless to say I took my ticket to Leith Police station this morning. The police officer took one look at the ticket and asked where my car had been parked. "Don't pay that" he said "that's not a private street, they have no right".

UK Parking Control Ltd are the guys who have privatised Fox Street and Poplar Lane. Probably other streets too as far as I know.

They have appeared on BBC's Watchdog and there is a lot of discussion about these people online.

Is there anybody from Edinburgh Council on Blip who can tell folks different?