POLICE Scotland delivered some festive misery by announcing it will withdraw its traffic wardens in six week - on CHRISTMAS EVE.

Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson sent the Bah Humbug bombshell to politicians and council officials.

His letter comes less than a fortnight after Scottish Borders Council sent an appeal to top cops asking for a rethink of the withdrawal as it would take up to three years to create a replacement service.

The timing of the misery message has been slammed by Selkirkshire MSP John Lamont. He said: “To try and sneak this announcement out on Christmas Eve in an attempt to hide it is a cynical move and proves that Police Scotland know that this is a controversial move.

“The removal of traffic wardens will be dreadful for areas like the Borders and will leave us with little or no parking enforcement in the region.

“Although Police Scotland state that they are removing wardens to focus on keeping people safe, vehicles will now be allowed to park in potentially dangerous areas with little chance of punishment. Traffic regulations are there not only to ease traffic in town centres, but also to ensure the safety of pedestrians and other road users.” In October Police chiefs announced that they planned the warden withdrawal in 2014 as part of a massive cost-cutting exercise.

There are 12 local authority areas in Scotland - mainly city and urban - which have already taken over the policing of parking regulations.

But to join them Scottish Borders Council would have to go through a lot of hoops during a process which could take between two and three years.

During the past 12 months the region’s three traffic wardens have issued 1102 parking fines as well as 613 tickets for out-of-date tax discs.

But, according to Wayne Mawson’s letter, they are likely to be withdrawn on February 3.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority’s Human Resource and Remuneration Committee on Wednesday, December 18.

The Assistant Chief Constable’s letter states: “At this meeting agreement was reached to implement the proposals to remove the traffic warden service from Monday, February 3.

“There are a small number of ongoing negotiations in relation to extending this service in particular circumstances.

“Current traffic wardens have been consulted with and suitable roles are being identified for them to move in to.”