Drivers in a bus stop ticket row

There has been confusion over the legality of parking beside the shelter in Myreslaw Green.

Although it has not been fully operational for several years, a number of drivers pulling in there have been hit with parking tickets.

It has now emerged that although private company buses no longer stop there it is still used as stop-off and pick-up points for a council mini-bus twice a day - but never after 5pm.

Because of the lack of on-street parking in Myreslaw Green and nearby Bright Street, Green Terrace and Morrison Place, Hawick and Hermitage ward councillor Davie Paterson has contacted the council to see if the four parking spaces there could be made available to use from 5pm to 8am daily, with appropriate signage put in place to advertise that.

Mr Paterson said: “Several of my constituents have been issued with parking tickets for parking on what is basically a former bus stop. It hasn’t been used for many years by the likes of Border Buses but I have been informed that council buses use it to drop off and collect a couple of times a day, but for the rest of the time the four spaces there are standing empty.

“There is such a shortage of parking spaces in that area and what my constituents are saying is that after five o’clock at night it is not used at all and my constituents didn’t think they were doing anything wrong because it was generally regarded locally as a former bus stop.

“Parking is at a premium there and I’m asking the council if some signage could be put in place to indicate that people are allowed to park, but only between, say, five at night at 8am the next day.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “It has been confirmed that the area where vehicles have parked is indeed a bus stop clearway and stopping/loading is prohibited at this location. As such it is considered that fixed penalty tickets were correctly issued.”