An Edinburgh councillor has condemned the scourge of pavement parking that is making travelling around the capital difficult for those with disabilities.
At around 9.00pm on Saturday July 9, wheelchair user Kayleigh O’Neill, a Green councillor for the Forth Ward, was travelling home after visiting family near Redhall Crescent. However, she claimed to have been placed in harm's way after a Royal Mail driver parked on the pavement she had to travel along.
She took to Twitter to express her displeasure and to call on Royal Mail to do more to inform their drivers on the impact this can have. She says that pavement parking can cause problems for those with disabilities as well as those using pushchairs and prams.
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The councillor says the issue makes it difficult to plan safe routes home. She added that it also leads to costs as wheelchair users have to get wheels amongst other things repaired and replaced.
On the issue, she said: “I fear this issue is prevalent every single day. On this occasion I was coming home late after visiting family in Longstone and it really put me off kilter.
“As someone who has to rely on an electric wheelchair, it means I have to reevaluate and remap my route to get home. It is really frustrating for people with mobility issues or those struggling to get around residential streets with buggies and pushchairs.
“It is not just private cars or vans but it is also businesses as well and on this occasion it was a really big business like Royal Mail. So I wanted to reach out publicly to them on social media and say this is a major problem and ask them to not do it.
“I’m aware of people’s concerns that this may get an individual driver in trouble but this is not the purpose. I do not want anyone to get in trouble but instead for them to be made aware about this being a real issue for people with mobility issues.
“I tweet about it a lot as I want to raise awareness about it. It puts myself and others in a dangerous position. Not to mention the wear and tear of having to go up and down pavements and the danger of going onto the road.
“I have to get wheels and my wheelchair repaired all the time due to pavement parking. This makes it a health issue as well.”
Kayleigh says that there is legislation currently going through the Scottish Government regarding rules around pavement parking and people obstructing lowered pavements as well as disabled parking bays
But she says that this cannot come soon enough and has called on those at the Government to bring the legislation forward. Edinburgh City Council is also understood to be awaiting new rules coming into place that would allow them to clamp down on this sort of behaviour.
She added: “I’m calling on the Scottish Government to act now and to say that I would be open speaking to them to see how we can bring this forward. I’m really keen in my term to see this come in as soon as possible.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has been working to improve parking legislation in Scotland, to tackle the impact of inconsiderate and obstructive parking and ensure that our roads and pavements are accessible for all. The national pavement parking prohibition has already been legislated for in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, having gained cross party support in the Scottish Parliament.
“We are now developing secondary legislation to allow for enforcement by local authorities. Local authorities will be required to assess their footways to determine which, if any, may be appropriate to be exempt from the pavement parking prohibition.
“Local authorities will be required to consider their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 throughout this process and guidance will be published to assist them. Transport Scotland has issued funding of £2.4 million over the last two years to allow local authorities to assess their streets in preparation for the pavement parking prohibition.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We regularly remind our colleagues of the importance of parking vehicles safely and considerately, and are very sorry to hear the concerns that councillors have raised on this occasion. This is not a location at which we plan to park any vehicles on a regular basis, and we anticipate no repetition of this incident.”
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