Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

1,200 motorists caught parking illegally in four days

1,200 drivers have been caught out in the first four days of the council's new parking scheme
1,200 drivers have been caught out in the first four days of the council's new parking scheme

A staggering 1,200 motorists have been caught parking illegally in the first four days of a Highland Council crackdown.

A total of 900 rogue drivers were snared in Inverness and another 300 in Fort William as the local authority launched its new get-tough policy.

It has a team of 11 enforcement officers operating in the city as part of a £550,000 plan to restore parking order to the streets.

Red warning notices have so far been issued at the rate of one every five minutes.

But, because the council has decided to give motorists a two-week grace period, they will be spared fines.

When the penalty charge notices regime goes live on October 17, offenders will be liable to pay £30 if they stump-up within 14 days, or £60 if they wait for more than a fortnight.

And a trend has already emerged which indicates that although illegal parking is a problem in the centre of Inverness, it is also an issue in the city’s Crown area and a number of streets to the west of the River Ness.

Last night, Pat Hayden, chairwoman of City Centre and Crown Community Council, said: “We have not had traffic wardens for so long, so people have just got complacent and parked wherever they can find a space.

“It’s good that we are warning folk and hopefully they will learn.

“I find the statistics quite staggering, but on the other hand, I am glad they are doing it this way and not issuing penalty charge notices.

“They are narrow streets in Crown and these houses were never built to take the amount of traffic it has now.

“We have been aware of the problem, particularly with people just parking in permit holders’ spaces and then going off to work.”

Ms Hayden claimed people attending church would be affected, adding that many park on double yellow lines outside the Inverness Baptist Church in Castle Street and Ness Bank Church.

Police employed 11 traffic wardens for the region until September 2012 but this number was reduced as part of a national cost-cutting review.

By March 2014, there were only two wardens left – both based in Inverness.

Since then the local authority has worked to decriminalise parking in the region and on Monday, after a six-month delay, the new regulations came into force.

A team of 10 parking officers are currently patrolling in Inverness and there is one stationed at Fort William.

City centre councillor Janet Campbell said the figures were a “wake up call for all of us”, but stressed she still had “major concerns” about the level of parking facilities in the city, particularly in the west side covering roads such as Kenneth Street and Fairfield Road.

Mrs Campbell said she would be pressing for a review of existing parking facilities in these areas.

She added: “I welcome the warning notices and all of us may very well be complacent, and the numbers don’t surprise me.

“I hope people take a lesson because it’s now legally binding and enforceable, but we must see that we have appropriate parking facilities in line with this.”

Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Thomas MacLennan said: “When there are so many warning notices being issued there is obviously a lot of parking that is needing enforcement action, and hopefully the public will take notice.”

Work to paint and replace lines and signage is already under way in other towns including Aviemore, Newtonmore, Kingussie, Grantown, Tain, Alness, Invergordon, Dingwall, Wick, Thurso and Ullapool.

Penalty charge notices will be issued in these towns at various times over the coming months, and money collected will go towards maintaining the scheme.