Aberdeen City Council has long faced the same challenge as every major UK city: parking enforcement that's reactive, slow, and expensive to scale. Wardens on foot can only cover so much ground. Fuel-powered vehicles cost money to run and maintain. And traditional patrol patterns make it easy for drivers to game the system.
In 2024, the council committed £1.3 million to change that — deploying a new generation of enforcement infrastructure that pairs ANPR camera technology with a fleet of 12 Eskuta SX-250 e-bikes as its rapid-response arm.
How the System Works
Two electric vans, each fitted with roof-mounted Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, now patrol Aberdeen's streets. As they drive, the cameras scan every vehicle parked in controlled zones — cross-referencing registrations against the council's new online permit system and cashless payment records in real time.
When the system flags a vehicle without valid parking rights, a job is automatically dispatched to a city warden's handlebar-mounted handset. That warden — on an Eskuta SX-250 — rides directly to the location to assess the situation and, where appropriate, begin the penalty charge process.
Four to five e-bikes are paired with each ANPR van. One van covers Aberdeen city centre; the other handles controlled parking zones further out.
Community safety and city warden manager Mark Wilson describes the model:
"If you think about how long it takes a city warden to walk down the full length of Crown Street — down one side, up the other, checking all the vehicles manually. We'll be able to drive down, scan a car in a bay — 'that one has a permit', 'that used cashless parking' — until we find a vehicle without valid parking rights. That will create a job which will go to one of the wardens on the Eskuta. And they will veer off to that location to assess the situation themselves."
— Mark Wilson, Community Safety and City Warden Manager, Aberdeen City Council
Why the SX-250
The 12 Eskuta SX-250s are finished in brilliant white with full Aberdeen City Council livery — instantly recognisable on the city's streets. Their EAPC classification means no road tax, no insurance requirement, and no MOT, keeping the per-vehicle running cost minimal. A full charge costs around 10p.
For a warden service that needs to cover a large urban area quickly and respond to time-sensitive ANPR detections, the SX-250's agility in high-traffic environments was central to why it was chosen — alongside its security features and comfortable ride quality for all-day use.
Freeing Wardens to Do More
The efficiency gains from the ANPR system don't just mean more parking tickets issued. Mark Wilson is clear that the bigger benefit is what wardens can do with the time they save.
"This will be far more efficient and gives us greater scope for city wardens to focus on some of their other remits, such as fly-tipping, littering, dog fouling, antisocial behaviour. So that's a big draw for us — to do more as a service and support communities."
The council is also expanding its warden team, hiring seven new full-time roles to bring staffing back to its full complement of 32 — testament to the investment in making the service work better, not just differently.
Part of a Wider Digital Overhaul
The Eskuta deployment sits alongside a broader modernisation of Aberdeen's parking infrastructure: a new online permit system giving around 80% of permit holders digital access, and new solar-powered parking meters being rolled out across the city.
The ANPR vans, the e-bike fleet, the digital permits, and the new meters are designed to work as a single joined-up system — with "intelligence-led enforcement" at its core.
"It's still going to require the warden," Wilson is careful to note. "It's not going to be a case of a van going down the street and just issuing tickets. We're still doing what we are doing now. It's just going to be much more efficient."
Interested in deploying Eskuta for your local authority or public sector organisation? Talk to us about a fleet quote →