Meet the Scone Woman Who Has Returned to Her Car With Exactly 30 Seconds to Spare, Every Time, for 22 Years
Morag Haldane, 64, has never had a parking fine. She says two free hours would 'ruin her system'.
A parking ticket machine, Morag Haldane's arch enemy. Photo: H005, “Parkscheinautomat Skidata”, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Morag Haldane, 64, from Scone, has parked in Perth city centre twice a week for 22 years and has never got a parking fine. Her secret is precision.
“I buy one hour exactly,” she said. “I set my watch. I shop for 52 minutes. I walk for seven. And I get to the car with 30 seconds left. I’ve done it more than 2,000 times.”
Morag has heard about the businesses’ call for two hours of free parking. She is not sure how she feels. “Two hours is a lot of time,” she said. “What would I do with the extra hour? Look at things? I don’t look at things. I buy things and go.”
Her husband says Morag once ran the length of the High Street “in a pair of heels and a hat” to beat a warden. “She made it with eight seconds,” he said. “The warden clapped.”
Morag says she will cope if the free parking comes in. “I’ll just shop twice,” she said. “Fifty-two minutes, then another 52.”
The real story: Perth businesses' demands (The Courier)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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I was the warden. I did clap. It was the most impressive thing I’ve seen on the High Street.
— Warden W., Perth, 31 October 2026 -
Fifty-two minutes is too long for me. I’m in and out in nine. Morag’s an amateur.
— Ken H., Scone, 31 October 2026
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