A CRACKDOWN on "dangerous and indiscriminate" drivers will see parking fines in East Lothian rise to £100 from next month.

East Lothian Council’s cabinet agreed on Tuesday to introduce the maximum fine allowed for illegal parking, despite admitting that the move would be “unpopular.”

Councillor Norman Hampshire, council leader, said that most people living or visiting the county would never receive a fine because they did not break the rules.

He said: “The vast majority of people will not have to pay this charge, it is only for people who do not follow the rules and park indiscriminately.

"As long as people don’t park on yellow lines or dangerously near our schools, they will not receive a fine.

“There is no point in putting down double yellow lines on our roads and not enforcing them.”

A report to cabinet, which is made up of Labour administration councillors, said that Scottish Government ministers had reviewed current parking penalties and agreed to give local authorities the power to increase them from the current £60 to up to £100.

The fine will be halved to £50 if paid within 14 days.

Councillors were told that informal conversations with other local authorities, including City of Edinburgh Council, Glasgow City Council and Aberdeen Council, had indicated that they planned to introduce the higher rate.

Councillor John McMillan, Provost of East Lothian, told the meeting that driver behaviour needed to change to make roads safer for everyone.

He said: “I know this will not necessarily be popular but, until we discourage and stop indiscriminate drivers, we have to act.”

Earlier, the committee also agreed to apply for traffic regulation orders to introduce eight new waiting restrictions and reduce speed limits in the rural communities of Humbie and New Winton.

Councillors were told that an experimental order to reduce the speed limit in Humbie from 40mph to 30mph had been in place and it was now proposed to introduce a permanent order reducing the speed, as well as creating 40mph buffers on approaches into the village.

And officers said that residents in New Winton had requested a similar reduction in their community.

Councillor George McGuire, who is not a cabinet member, told the meeting that rural communities were “blighted” by speeding drivers.

Mr McMillan agreed, saying: “It is all about drivers’ behaviour. This is something that should reduce speed and take away this blight.”

The sites of new waiting restrictions include: Prestonpans High Street, at Inchview; unit 7-8, Wallyford Industrial Estate; Hercus Loan, Musselburgh; Eskmills Road, Musselburgh at Tesco roundabout; Wemyss Place at and including Gosford Road Lane, Cockenzie; Edinburgh Road junction with Bankpark Crescent, Tranent; Queens Road/Spott Road, Dunbar; Station Road, Haddington.

Councillor also approved making disabled bays outside Ormiston Library and West Barns Village Hall enforceable, as well as making Eskside West in Musselburgh one way, and redetermining the footpath outside East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington for pedestrians and cyclists.