MORE than 140 parking fines were issued over the weekend as East Lothian’s coastal car parks reached capacity.

The opening of some public toilets and relaxing of the five-mile rule for travelling to enjoy the outdoors saw people flock to the county’s beaches and several car parks, which had been closed during lockdown, were full.

A council spokesperson said the ‘vast majority’ of people visiting the car parks were considerate and followed physical distancing rules, which included queueing to use the toilet facilities.

However, they said that the high traffic volume within coastal towns and villages had created some parking issues, leading to another weekend of fines.

The spokesperson said: “East Lothian’s coast was extremely busy this weekend, with several of our beach car parks reaching capacity.

“We are aware that this generated some issues with parking on access roads and high traffic volumes within some of our coastal towns and villages.

“The vast majority of people visiting our car parks were considerate and physically distanced queues with adherence to the ‘one in, one out’ policy for public toilets was being observed.

“We do not have a figure for beach car parks alone but can confirm a total of 140 parking charge notices were issued across the whole of East Lothian from Friday, July 10, to Sunday, July 12.

“As lockdown restrictions continue to ease, more of our public toilets across East Lothian will be opened to the public and we would ask residents and visitors to continue to be considerate to others in ensuring they are observing physical distancing, are legally parked and follow any instructions given when visiting local shops, visitor attractions, and our hospitality industry.”

The number of parking fines issued was higher than the 120 handed out three weeks ago when coastal car parks reopened for local use only.

The council opened some of its toilets on Saturday for the first time since lockdown.