The path is not a personal parking space

yellowdoor

To the few that insist on parking on the path along the spine road as you come out of Charlesland Park:

I would have thought that cars go quite fast on the spine road of Charlesland. Given this, is it appropriate that you put your vehicle on the place where one walks? I have seen a woman with a child in a buggy and a toddler on foot, go out onto the road to bypass your cars.

Yes there are times when we all get home and find parking a difficulty, however, we choose not to park on the path out of consideration to others, might you think of this in future?

Charlie-Bravo

Hear, hear.

Angel

To the cabbages who keep parking in the spaces reserved for handicapped drivers at Superquinn, I sincerely hope that someday your wish comes true.

mikedragon32

And the muppet who insists on parking his BMW and/or Primera across the wheelchair ramp at the duplexes in the Wood. You too, are an inconsiderate oaf.

Hammiepeters

Good on you Angel

Wineman

Supposedly by next month there will be clampers called for those backward numbskulls who blight our quality of life by parking on the footpaths and in handicap spaces. I cant wait to see those little yellow clamps so I can laugh my effing head off when the owner is standing beside his/her car on their mobile ready to fork out 70 quid for being an asshole!

markest

I disagree, the last thing I would wish on anyone are inconsiderate clampers. That is one reason I moved here, to get away from them. Once you are clamped whether parked legally or not you are trapped until they deign to release you.

Wineman

Then dont park on the footpath .

Hammiepeters

Or in the disabled spaces. And if you do, I hope that you get what you deserve.

markest

I have a conscience, therefore, I never park on footpaths or, in disabled spaces or, on corners etc. etc. but I have been clamped before when legally parked and if you have read a newspaper before so too have plenty of other people.
What I am trying to say, before you bite my head off again is, clampers are in it for the money and will not take no for an answer and it will be a sorry state of affairs if we have to resort to using them.

Eoin

markest wrote:

I have a conscience, therefore, I never park on footpaths or, in disabled spaces or, on corners etc. etc. but I have been clamped before when legally parked and if you have read a newspaper before so too have plenty of other people.
What I am trying to say, before you bite my head off again is, clampers are in it for the money and will not take no for an answer and it will be a sorry state of affairs if we have to resort to using them.

Couldn't agree more. If someone parks on the curb, clamping them will mean the car is there for longer, defeating the purpose of trying to keep that space free.

Wineman

I am sure the residents associations are open to alternatives and clamping is a last resort but there are die hards out there that will continue to park on the kerb/disabled spaces unless it hurts their pockets.
The management company has put notes on cars on my street asking residents not to block the pavement due to it being a danger to children and in the case of one of my neighbours they have sent two letters requesting the same, do you think he gives a damn...no. He now deliberately parks across the pavement just to spite the management company and his neighbours.
I have also been clamped in the past for parking without paying, it cost me €70 and I was gutted as it was a genuine mistake, but I can tell you I wouldnt make the same mistake twice.

Charlie-Bravo

woah...hold your horses. Let's be nice guys. Ok if someone wants to park illegally, shouldn't we have a nice Garda man (or woman) do the honours and ticket these people?? Afterall, there is a whole division call the Traffic corps for this kind of thing, isn't there???

...if a capable person wants to park in the Charlesland shopping centre disabled car parking spaces with no appropriate sticker, do the guards sort it out?

...if a dope wants to park their car on the footpath and block the route for abled people, people with disabilities, children, rollerbladers and the like; do the guards sort it out?

...if you can't manage to park your white Ford Deutschland registered car properly when there's plenty of space around the green outside your house; are the guards gonna sort it out?

Ok, here's the real question...we may live in a 'managed' estate but surely we don't need clampers but just the odd ticket from a Garda to knock those eegits into place. So when is it appropriate to call the guards for these issues?...Anyone?

Hammiepeters

I have seen the Garda issueing tickets for the disabled spaces at Superquinn and I am confident that they would always do so if they were there at the right time. But lets be honest here. The Garda do not have the manpower to chase every incompetent driver/parker in Ireland. Lets face it all you need to drive a car in this country is an L plate ,a car and the money for insurance. The accompanied driver rule is hugely ignored and tens of thousands of people got full licences in an amnesty years ago without ever sitting a test. Scores of people a couple of weeks ago thought it was perfectly ok to drive at 120kph when you couldnt see a hand in front of your face.
Sure clampers are not all perfect gentlemen. But who else is going to do a job like that? The hip pocket is the only realistic way of addressing this issue.
The answer from every scumbag I've ever tackled about parking in the disabled spaces has been ''I was only going to be a few minutes''.
No doubt the same folk bleat on about unfairness when they get clamped or booked. STUFF THEM.

Eoin

But clamping them means the car is left longer in a disabled spot or on a path than it would have been in the first place.

I used to live opposite the Montessori in the Grove, and was constantly blocked in or out by ignorant people in their unnecessary SUVs dropping off or picking up their sprogs. While it would have been funny to watch, it would have been a much bigger pain in the hole if I had to wait for them to be unclamped.

yellowdoor

Regarding the clampers, if they come around, (while it will be annoying at the start), people will stop parking absolutely all over the place if they know they are surely going to have to pay for it. If no action is taken I suspect the issue will get increasingly more torrid.

Again I tend to agree that the Gardai have limited resources, and in my opinion they could be better spent in areas other than policing the pathways of Charlesland.

Charlie-Bravo

I agree that the Garda resources are best used elsewhere, and yes the Garda traffic corps is best used not policing the pavements of Charlesland, but to be honest, if they did a once in a while ticketing of the area then people will start to 'think' more about what they are doing with their cars.

I put a note on one car a few months back where a guy kept parking his car across the footpath (head first towards his house)...He moved it the following day and parked it opposite a full white line and right on the junction. Dumb-ass! Anyway, it didn't last too long as his neighbour started parking his car head-on across the footpath and he went back to his old ways!!!

Maisy

I may as well vent my particular spleen - I had reason to be out and about three times Easter Sunday, and, each time, when heading out onto the spine road, a car came off it far too fast into the Park, - I am one of those people with an L plate and have come to expect such goonery from so called "experienced/qualified drivers". I have been waiting fifteen months now for a test, and am on a second provisional. To be honest, I a consider myself a far safer driver than a lot of folks out there with a full licence - I can fill a book with incidents that allow me to say so.

I am also one of the few who takes it handy coming up the spine road, which paid off recently when a tot ran out in front of me from behind one of cars lamped on the side of said road. Totally unexpected, but then, isn't that what we are taught to be always ready for, the unexpected ?? - oh I'm learning alright folks

Finally, I too am of the opinion that parking is becoming more and more of a problem and I would have no issue with clamping, the "hit-em-where-it-hurts" approach is the only way forward.

Wineman

I could be totally wrong but I dont think the Garda have any jurisdiction in terms of parking as this estate is private property. All the common areas, roads and pathways are owned by the residents as a whole and that is why we pay a management company for their upkeep, so the issue of parking is an internal one that needs to be solved by our own volition. The same applies to Superquinn carpark disabled spaces - private property.
Dont quote me on this as I am not 100% sure, maybe someone else can run with this one...

mikedragon32

You're partially right Wineman. They may have no jurisdiction in relation to parking in the estates, but I doubt it, however they have jurisdiction in the Superquinn car park and I've seen them ticket cars parked in the disabled spaces there.

Eoin

I thought the same Wineman, but "Bertie" set me right - The Superquin carpark is designated as a public car park, so they are able to ticket people in the disabled spots.

Not sure if you could be ticketed for parking on a corner etc anywhere else in the estate.

Charlie-Bravo

So, if the Gardai have no jurisdiction over the estate as it is private, then it looks like a clamping company is the only way forward. Mind you, if we set-up our own internal clamping system then we could keep the money and put it towards something useful, but then again, I wouldn't like to be the clamper having to deal with these stupid people!

Just one other thing, like Eoin said, if someone parks outside you house and blocks you in, shouldn't you able to ring the Gards then?! Something like false imprisonment or something?!

loyatemu

some sort of speed control on the spine road is also needed - ramps like the ones at the entrance to the estate perhaps?

matt-dublin

As it stands...

The gards can not issue tickets for illegally parked cars in charlesland as the land is privatly owned by the charlesland management company. As far as i know the wicklow county council will be taking over certain parts of charlesland (ie spine road etc.) and then cars illegally parked there are liable for road traffic offences.

We have huge problems in the crescent with people using our spaces from the final durking phase of charlesland and now we're looking into resolutions.

Also as you come around the corner to the crescent people are parking on the corner on both sides of the road.

It is Illegal to park within 5 Metres of a road junction or corner.
It Is illegal to park within 15 metres of a pedestrian crossing or signal lights.

A list of parking offences and associated fines are available here: http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/7424-1.pdf

Sparks115

Well I have one for you all....... We have a family living in Charlesland grove that refuse to use their driveway!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They actually park their 2 cars on the road blocking other people from parking outside their house and it is driving us all mental. 2 of the neighbours approached the gentleman in a civilised discussion about it and he lost the head with them telling them to get lost etc!! Then my sister on Good Friday could hardly get her car out the way he was parked and she asked if he could kindly and nicely in future park one of his cars in the drive as it was causing her a problem every day getting her car out and why did they not want to use their driveway?. He started screaming at her who the hell did she think she was telling him what to do and to go away. So she told him he was a horrible horrible man and then his wife started on her so she told her she was horrible too. They are just nasty nasty older people who just lkie annoying everyone. Is there anyway of getting the residents asscociation to talk to these unreasonable people and get them to be a bit more cooperative in relation to parking!!! why the hell do they not want to use their drive way ??? I swear they are loolas!! anyone got any ideas on how to approach these people without having to knock their heads together to make them see sense?

loyatemu

you'd be wasting your time Inch - some people are just jerks. Anyone is entitled to park on the road - can't think why they wouldn't use their driveway, but I don't think anyone could force them to either.

My personal gripe at the moment is houses with two cars (or a jeep and a trailer in one case) parking them back to back in the driveway with the second car entirely blocking the pavement. This is just obnoxious, it forces everyone including people with pushchairs, young kids on bikes etc onto the road.

Sparks115

Well thats just it, because of their ignorence all the cars in the houses across from their house have to park their 2 cars in their driveway it is a mess trying to get in and out every day and like that anyone witha buggy like myself has to push it on the road which I dont mind because I know that they have no other option . I think your right in relation to cars with trailers etc....sure again in the grove their is one house I think with 7 electricians or trades men who all have white vans and park them all along the green....its like a fricking industrial estate the way they are lined up and taking peoples parking spaces. I would like to know if they all live in the one house or if the cars are just parked there at night and used as a depo??

matt-dublin

INCH get on to your management agent agents about them

i believe thats anti social behaviour so warrants a letter/asbo etc

Angel

Residents in the Park recently received a letter from their management company asking the owner of a big white van to stop parking outside other people's houses. Obviously people must have contacted the agency to complain. Apparently the van disappeared for a few days but is back again now, so contacting the mgmnt co. might not be a long term solution.

TnJ

These guys take 1st prize!!!

They totally blocked the street in the grove opposite SQ. Merc & trailer blocked all the residents of this cul de sac from entering/exiting. A couple of polish/latvian lads sauntered over from SQ after about 25 mins with their shopping trolley. When I challenged them about their parking they said, "well, we had nowhere else to park..." so they decided to block in about 30 houses. :eek:


called the guards btw, took them about 30 mins to show up and they just missed the pair. they had a grand ol chuckle at the pics and moved on

LMC

Thats the best - I know is wasnt funny at the time, but some people are unreal. I generally park in the upperlevel carpark and its empty while people are queing for a space outside SQ -

Charlie-Bravo

Okey doke,

I got this from the rsa.ie website...the new rules of the road book. If you think it is worthwhile sticky this page on the car window of the offender, sure print it off and circle the part they haven't a clue about!

mikedragon32

I look forward to seeing one on the white mondeo Astro!

Maisy

LMC wrote:

Thats the best - I know is wasnt funny at the time, but some people are unreal. I generally park in the upperlevel carpark and its empty while people are queing for a space outside SQ -

I thought I was the only one confused about that ! and then there's the underground car park ??!!! - thats always so empty you could park a fleet of Sherman tanks in it !!!!

Charlie-Bravo

mikedragon32 wrote:

I look forward to seeing one on the white mondeo Astro!

Put his down to recent experience, and I don't mean the white mondeo...I got a note back saying I should stop wasting paper and discuss this with the management company. I only put two notes on cars! Ok I know...do things through the proper channels and don't have arguements with your neighbours! But I don't really want to complain to the management company but if anyone has a problem with this whole issue, don't be wasting your breath on here and send a letter to the 'powers that try to be' the managing agents!

So has anyone actually sent a letter to their managment company on this yet?

Wineman

Unfortunately people react very defensively when you knock on their door to complain about anything. Rather than fall out with a neighbour ( who you may have to live beside for many years) it may be a better solution to contact the management company and let them deal with it. In my case I sent them a number of emails highlighting the fact that parking in this manner was a public nuisance and a health hazard for which they may be liable...then they sat up and listened.

They sent me a formal letter explaining that they had written to the offending person twice and put notes on his car but to no avail, so therefore they could not be deemed negligent nor liable if any person were injured due to this type of parking. They were the ones who suggested clamping and it will be top of the agenda in the AGM at the end of April.

Charlie-Bravo

So, it all points back to getting a clamping company to sort out the mess. Hitting people where hurts will be the only way to get some people to listen. I know clamping means the car will be there longer than is necessary but that's the mechanism of punishment for offending which will work best.

Next is the problem of getting a clamping company in to sort this out. Each part of the Charlesland estate has their AGM at different times of the year so tying in one clamper for the whole estate may be difficult to organise. Nevertheless I suppose each management companies would have to have a service contract with the clamping company. And anyway, you are going to have the resistance of people not wanting such a service, especially if those resisting are the offenders ( whom don't have many other options but to park their car in a ridiculous position). Jaysus, this is going to go on for a while......

Sparks115

I think any Residents assoc getting clampers in should be at a last resort. These companies are money mad and believe you me any opportunity they have to clamp they will. So if you lovely old Aunt is visiting and she parks outside you house but slighty on the path she will be clamped. If you have several visitors for dinner and they are parked in anyway on the kerb near the kerb on the path they will be clamped...you are opening up a whole world of pain for your part of the estate by doing that and I really think before anyone goes forward with the idea you think about the results and effects it will have on your neighbourhood. Sometimes a solution to the problem is worse than the intial problem.

Lumbarda

Our main problem is ONE guy who insists on parking his (2nd) car on one side of the road (the side nearest the houses) despite the fact that everyone else parks on the other side. So it's great fun trying to squeeze out between his car and the one on the other side with inches to spare on either side (on a good day!!). Double yellow lines one side of the street and parking fines being handed out for infringements SHOULD solve the problem though!

Crescent

Repeat offender:

The small grey Nissan (96 D i think) that parks on the spine road path. He/she was there yesterday evening before six o' clock and there were a plethora of spaces. Equally he/she was there late this morning and still with a choice of spaces. They are the ones that are constantly breeching the laws.


Also what about the management company getting those stickers that are nigh impossible to remove, they seem to work in alot of places?

Eoin

Crescent wrote:

Also what about the management company getting those stickers that are nigh impossible to remove, they seem to work in alot of places?

That's nothing but vandalism.

Sparks115

I called the management company yesterday about our lovely friend that refuses to park either of his 2 cars in the driveway and freeks when anyone asks him to move. They said he is being completely unreasonable and will send him a letter asking him to use his driveway. If he continues to be unreasonable they will pursue the matter and contact him by phone or in person. At least he will know that we have had enough and wont tollerate his bad manners.;) now I am off to do something more constructive with my life...like work, so I can pay my Management fees!!!

Crescent

So we wait until everyone agrees (including those who are the offenders) to allow clamping in. When we have an agreement (after all the AGM'c), we then hand the place over to money making officials who will as someone said, clamp our poor old aunties too near the curb.

Or we could hope the local Gardai have time to police the place.

We have a problem, we need to get ramps in and sort parking out.

Hopefully all that procrastination wont result in the death of a young child.

I just would have though those stickers administered by the right person would be an interim measure, to safe guard our community.

Vandalism, I think not!

Eoin

Those stickers are a bitch to remove, and until they are fully off can easily block the view of the driver unless they have the sense to put it on the driver side rear window, which is the safest window to put it on (and still not ideal). Anything that hard to remove from a car is vandalism in my eyes.

If a clamping company gets a contract for Charlesland, they will do so on the belief that there will be constant targets for them. I doubt they do it on the understanding that the offenders will learn their lesson after the first time they get clamped.

This means that there will be enough different people to clamp, in which case you have an ongoing situation where cars are clamped in a place where they can't be removed quickly, exasperating the situation (or malparkage as they said in the Simpsons). If I was faced in a situation like the one that TnJ posted, I would be even more pìssed off if I had to wait for those lads to ring up, pay the fine and have the clampers come and have the clamp removed.

The other scenario is that if people do stop parking in dangerous or seriously inconvenient places, then they will target people who have made slight transgressions.

From what I see working in the city centre, clamping is designed to punish people who park legally, but don't pay the meter. Cars parked dangerously seem to be towed. I doubt anyone wants to go down that route.

Tails142

Lol I got a good chuckle out of reading this thread... why do people feel that the road outside their own house is their property and that only they can park there?!?

Fair enough that guy not using his driveway is an oddball but sure... just start parking in his driveway for the laugh. Also, did I hear someone say that they are annoyed that they have to park their 2 cars on their driveway cos there's no space on the road... there are three cars parked on my driveway, yes its a pain the ass moving cars about to get out but there you go, its just the way my family does things. We never park on the road and its always free, just a thing for safety with small kids about.

I have a friend in Drumcondra and I often visit her in the evenings, as you may know these houses have no drives, so the residents zealously use cones to protect 'their' spaces. I dont recognise their false claims so I will park wherever conveniences me, often just driving slowly into the cones to push them out of the way (I drive a banger ). The amount of hatemail I get under the wipers is unreal, I jump into my car on leaving for fear of being stabbed by an angry homeowner (it is the northside after all). Do you expect me to park somewhere differently.. do you expect me to care about your problems. Having to carry your poor kids in from the road- all 20metres.. get your lazy arse husband to park out there. The road is the road, whether its outside your house or not, that's the price you pay for not having paved an extra bay into your front garden. You buy a house without a driveway, you run the risk of not having parking. simple as

People parking on footpaths is illegal, but sometimes needs must. We dont live in a perfect world unfortunately.

Also, clampers are the devil, what are you thinking actually trying to bring that onto yourself and your locale. The clampers will never catch the people that should be caught and will only catch the innocent and unsuspecting. All clampers do is cruise their usual money making spots, clamping people who are parking in places where there really arent all that much of an inconvenience.

matt-dublin

THey Have clamping in operation in tullyvale in cherrywood. and there doesn't seem to be complaints there.

@eoin_S : they only lift a car when it is deemed to be hazardous parking and dangerous to public safety.
If you park on a back road double yellow lines you'll be clamped.
if you park on a main road with double yellow lines they'll move your car, park it on a back road, clamp it and notify the gardai they've moved it.

I think once the road traffic and parking survey has been done, and the roads and parking are properly marked/painted then there will be cause for the clampers to come in.

Up in the crescent at the moment we're also looking at parking slips as we have a number of cars from the final phase parking in our spaces,

Eoin

Tails142, no trolling please. I'd say the majority of houses in the estate can fit in more than one car in the driveway. If you read the thread, you may see that some people have concerns for children's' safety, not (I hope) on some sort of Victor Meldrew-esque rant.

matt-dublin, do they not have readily available underground car parking in Tullyvale? I don't know if the layouts of the two estates are comparable.

What do you think the residents will gain from clampers? Like I said, if people do stop parking in the more dangerous spots, they will go for easier targets. When people are clamped, the car is there for longer.

matt-dublin

eoin,

tullyvale used to have a problem with onstreet parking and on courners similar to ourselves until they got the clampers in. once that was done there was a month or two of pain and the problems stopped.

And you're right, yes if a car gets clamped it will be there for longer. but also i'm pretty sure it won't be there again afterwords.

It doesn't matter if the car is going to be there for longer or not as people will still park there while nothing is being done about it.

What will the residents gain from clamping? Well i would guess a safer neighbour hood for their children to play in. We've already had a dog killed un at the crescent due to bad parking.

Now think if that dog was a small child...
i would guarantee that some form of enforcement would come into play.

At the rate that charlesland is going, with speeding, people not able to use roundabouts and bad parking at some stage there's going to be an injury, crash or death.

Personally, I don't feel like crashing, dying or being injured, and im goiing to safely presume that everyone in charlesland has pretty much the same feeling.

So for a few months of pain for the clampers being around, I think that charlesland in the longer run will become a better place. And for parking in easier targets? Well afaik everyone has allocated parking, people park dangerously because they're lazy. Two minutes walk isn't going to hurt anyone.

Crescent

I understand why one might be against "Stickers, clampers"etc. but again a solution is needed.

Unfortunately I don't think we can make pleas to the better nature of the offenders!

Also, for it to stop I think there is going to have to be some consequence to the person illegally parked, and that is okay if it means promoting safety.

Eoin

matt-dublin wrote:

And you're right, yes if a car gets clamped it will be there for longer. but also i'm pretty sure it won't be there again afterwords.

I just can't see a clamping company taking a contract unless they know that there will always be people to clamp.

Speeding is another issue, which speed ramps on the spine road in particular would help address.

dreamingoak

i was in the police station the other day to sort out a form and overheard a woman complaining about people parking in her shops designated spot behind the video shop in the main street. she siad it was the staff of the other shops and they would not listen to her re it. the police said they would go down and 'have a chat' with them. could this not be done with people who are known to park in disableds spots, across ramps, endangering children etc? also, u wouldnt have to know who they are, u could just report siad car to the police, say its allways there, and let them get on with it.