Parking attendants issue £11,000 of fines already at coastal car parks in East Lothian

The private traffic wardens were given the power to issue penalty charge notices to people caught flouting parking rules on January 23 and have issued 184 £60 fine notices at the county's coastal car parks.

A report due to go before East Lothian councillors next week will also reveal that the income generated by charging people to park in coastal car parks since the fees were introduced in July 2015 has been just £184,539 - with just over £100,000 generated since April last year.

In contrast it said £899,347 had been spent upgrading and improving the car park facilities, with a further £450,000 set aside for further work over the next three years.

East Lothian Council had predicted an income of half a million pounds annually from the introduction of the charges, although its recent budget reduced that income to £300,000 annually over the next three years.

Visitors to the car parks are charged £2, which allows them to park at any of the beach car parks throughout the same day. An annual pass costs £40.

Blue Badge holders are not required to pay the charges, which are in force at: Longniddry Bents Nos 1, 2 and 3; Gullane Bents; Yellowcraig; John Muir Country Park at Tyninghame Links, Linkfield and Shore Road; Whitesands; and Barns Ness.

The report, which will go before the council's policy and performance review committee on Wednesday, also revealed that only 400 people had bought a season ticket in this financial year so far.

However, it said officials had noticed a rise in the number of season tickets bought since the introduction of the parking attendants.

Yellowcraig was by far the most lucrative beach, with over 24,000 tickets bought by visitors since the charges were introduced in July 2015.

It was followed by John Muir Country Park, which saw 12,747 tickets sold, and Longniddry Bents No3, which sold 11,446.

The least successful car park was Longniddry Bents No2, which has only sold 753 tickets.