SEVENTY additional spaces are to be created at Halbeath Park & Ride this month after drivers were fined for parking outwith bays once ‘Car Park Full’ signs went up.

Trisha Nolan said finding a space at the facility was becoming increasingly difficult since a direct service to Glasgow Airport started.

She’s had to start dropping husband John off at Halbeath as he was finding it increasingly difficult to bag himself a space and wants a specific area allocated to holidaymakers and a stop to the fines for people who aren’t parked in specific bays.

“Every single day there are 20-30 cars that we can see parked on the extensions to the parking bays. They aren’t obstructing anyone when they are using them but they come home to parking tickets on their cars every night,” she told the Press.

“Today (Tuesday) we were there at 9.30am and it had the ‘Car Park Full’ sign displayed. I dropped him and walked round to see how many spaces there were and there were 35 free spaces.

“People are coming in and are seeing the ‘Car Park Full’ sign and panicking needlessly and parking on the verges. If someone was there to direct them to the empty spaces it would save these people thinking there are no spaces and parking on the verges and getting these fines.

“The biggest issue overall is that now they have brought in the bus service to Glasgow airport, which is great, many of these car are parked there sometimes for a week or two weeks at a time. Something needs to be looked at.”

Trisha, of Morrison Drive, said having a specific area for the longer-term parkers would help those who were simply making their way to work.

“I think there should be a designated area for long-stay cars,” she added. “Why is there not a member of staff helping people to park? It is a real problem and it has got worse. Now we have people coming off the bus at night and getting parking tickets. It is just a way of making money out of these commuters who have been encouraged to leave their cars at a facility that cost millions. You are looking to help the environment and you then find you have to pay more than the price of the whole month’s ticket.”

Scott Blyth, of Fife Council, said: “We have to balance the need for parking spaces with the land available for practical bays that will give everyone enough room to safely manoeuvre vehicles.

“And it’s important that we deter people from parking irresponsibly in ways that might block other drivers or pose a hazard to cars, buses or pedestrians.

“We’ve had a few enquiries relating to capacity at Halbeath lately and are working with Stagecoach to consider various options. We’re also planning to create an additional 70 spaces later this month – subject to weather conditions.”