Parking problem at work

Ginger83

My partner has a private carpark at work that leads out on to a laneway to a cinema. There is no room for parking spaces on this lane so the council have laid double yellow lines but there are 2 wheelchair space at 1 corner. Evening after evening when she finishes work she becomes blocking in by these idiots who dont give a **** about anybody but themselves and block the whole lane up by leaving their cars anywhere to get as close as possible to the cinema. The gardai wont do anything about the situation and the council have said they have done everything they can about it.

Could anybody come up with a suggestion to solve this problem. I have been called from home to go in and pick her up, have her leave her car there and run her to the bus in the morning. I have had rows over and over again nearly coming to blows with people who have come back to their cars and laughed and drove off. Now I wont say what I would like to do to solve this my way but if somebody has a solution to solve this in a civil way I would be grateful.

mikemac

Cinemas mean a high possibilty of skangers in the immediate vicinity.
Hire a scanger to hang around your car with a large screwdriver in their hand.

Noone will come near your space in case their paintwork gets ruined.;)

Option 2:
Sell the car and buy a moped.

The_B_Man

DIY Clamp?

tallus

Get them clamped

Num Lock

Ginger83 wrote:

The gardai wont do anything about the situation and the council have said they have done everything they can about it.

Don't get it.

Seems to me the others are not parking illegally if the guards & council can do nothing.

You could always try the Boswell's option and put pseudo-garda traffic cones along the spaces.....worth a go.

stepbar

Ring the clampers, they are illegally parked!

Senna

problem is, its not going to be the same morons parking there every time, so violence or car damage wont do any good (but might feel good at the time).
she's pretty screwed unless the council do something about it.
you could alert a traffic warden seen its double yellow lines.
can she park somewhere else?

Wishbone Ash

stepbar wrote:

Ring the clampers, they are illegally parked!

The OP's partner may not work in a town which has clampers.

Senna wrote:

you could alert a traffic warden seen its double yellow lines

Traffic wardens generally do not work evenings.

Blitzkrieger

Your only legal options are to get the council to clamp/tow them or get the guards to give them tickets for parking on double-yellows.

Ginger83

Well said wishbone. There are no clampers. Wardens finished at 6 I think. I spoke to garda tonight, I said he has the authority to issue an €80 fine for illegal parking and I was told and I quote "You wont make any friends by doing that"
Maybe Im mistaken here but I dont go to work with the intention of making friends. I go to pay my tax, which in turn pays a garda's wage to enforce the law. Please corect me if I am wrong.

I dont think the cones idea would work as people even use the invalid space without a thought for those who need them. I think this is the height of disrespect. I would rather return home instead of going to the cinema rather than use this space. Some people really have no shame. I have a mate whose father is an invalid, they have a disc displayed on their car but the mother will not use the invalid space if she is out on her own.

PS- Does anyone know how I would get hold of a council worker to clamp a car after hours?

Gran Hermano

Don't suppose the laneway is an access route for a fire appliance?
If so you and the illegally parked car is blocking a fire exit it may be of
interest to your local fire officer, they may have better luck with the
Garda who sound reluctant to do their work in case they don't make friends.

John R

The ignorant garda should be reported for that, he deserves the sack for refusing to due his duty. Unfortunately that sort of attitude still reigns in smaller towns across the country and it goes beyond simple parking laws.

If I was in the situation the cinemagoers would return to their cars to find large stickers on their windows pointing out the error of their actions and I would make sure they were the type that are practically impossible to remove.

Kevster

Ring (01) 222 2218 to report this. That is the number for the Parking Enforcement section of the city council. They have direct links to the clampers and can arrange for the area to be monitored, even after working hours.

It is Dublin we are talking about... ...right?

Kevster

John R wrote:

The ignorant garda should be reported for that, he deserves the sack for refusing to due his duty. Unfortunately that sort of attitude still reigns in smaller towns across the country and it goes beyond simple parking laws.

My experience of liaising with the guards regarding traffic problems brings frustration each and every time. They just don't appear interested in doing their job.

Guy:Incognito

Kevster wrote:

My experience of liaising with the guards regarding traffic problems brings frustration each and every time. They just don't appear interested in doing their job.

Its a double edged sword. How many threads has there been on motors where people are up in arms that gards are doing them for traffic offences and not "out catching real criminals". Not excusing it but we cant have it both ways.

jimmycrackcorm

Print out a wheelchair sticker and park there.

zuutroy

Break their legs.....oh no wait....

Collie D

Ginger83 wrote:

Maybe Im mistaken here but I dont go to work with the intention of making friends. I go to pay my tax, which in turn pays a garda's wage to enforce the law.

Try telling that to the Garda

Leeby

Who owns the lane?
If it belongs to her employer then maybe she could put in complaint to them and a barrier could be put up??
Or if it's the cinema, maybe enough people complaining to them will get them to monitor it?
Probably idealistic thinking, but could be worth a try.

aodhu

Will clamping not just make the problem worse? The cars will be there all the time untill the fine is paid.

Stickers, the ones that are hard to get off. Or towing seem like the only option. The thing about it is that you only need to tow a few cars and once people know they'll get towed if they park there they'll stop!

cooperguy

You could probably lay your hands on those stickers fairly easily. That would definatly get people to thisnk twice if they had to spend half an hour trying to peal a sticker off their car window. It might take a few weeks for the message to get around but it would eventually

John Mason

i have the exact same problem at my work. there is nothing you can do about it. three of us got trapped in the carpark 2 hours (they had actually parked in front of the gate), it was after 8pm when we got out. we phoned the police and the clampers. The clampers had shut for the night and the police said it was nothing to do with them but that if we tried to move the car overselves we could be arrested for criminal damage.

when the three scumbags and mean scum turned up, they started screaming that they had only been there for 10 mins!!!!!

DaDa

I'd vote for the stickers. You've tried everything else.

Kevster

aodhu wrote:

Will clamping not just make the problem worse? The cars will be there all the time untill the fine is paid.

No, if a car is clamped for 24 hours it is then removed to the car impound. The owner then must pay 160 euro to release it or else it will be crushed after a few months.

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irishbird wrote:

The clampers had shut for the night and the police said it was nothing to do with them but that if we tried to move the car overselves we could be arrested for criminal damage.

Their offices close but there is a crew on patrol in a clamping van 24/7. If you ring (01) 222 2218 before 9AM or after 5PM, you will be put through to a 24-hour number. The operator there may be able to help you.


The clampers don't have to clamp either. They can place official warning stickers onto the the cars.

Zzippy

Ginger83 wrote:

Well said wishbone. There are no clampers. Wardens finished at 6 I think. I spoke to garda tonight, I said he has the authority to issue an €80 fine for illegal parking and I was told and I quote "You wont make any friends by doing that"
Maybe Im mistaken here but I dont go to work with the intention of making friends. I go to pay my tax, which in turn pays a garda's wage to enforce the law. Please corect me if I am wrong.

If the guard won't do anything to help you he's not doing his job. I would point this out, then ask to speak to the sergeant-in-charge. Point out that this is an ongoing problem and its not the first time you have requested the guards to do something. If he won't help take it to the superintendent by writing to him/her and outlining the problem. Always ask for the name of the guard you're dealing with and make sure to let them know if you're taking it further you will be mentioning their name.
Nothing gets the guards going like thinking they might get in trouble.
If all else fails complain to the Garda Ombudsman. I know its not a huge issue for the guards but they do have to enforce the law.

Kevster

The cost of a Garda ticket-fine isn't €80. it is substantially less than that, in fact. €80 is the cost to release a clamp.

Ginger83

Many thanks for all the replies. I didnt mean to cause any confusion but it is Navan town I spoke about in Co Meath. This is the 4th time I can remember this happening for a long period of time, the longest being when a couple parked to go out for dinner and out for the night and I couldnt get in to collect my partner as I was on nights, she was forced to get a taxi to and from work. I approached the owner of the car to reimburse her the costs and he laughed. (did however cost him more than 2 taxi runs in the long run :rolleyes: )

Schlemm

This thread is making my blood boil, why are people such assh0les whenever a car is involved?!

Get the name of any guard that gives you the cold shoulder, I wouldn't tolerate that sort of attitude in a fit. Do they have any CCTV at the cinema? Maybe you could get some reg numbers too.

Ginger83

The gardai seem to turn a blind eye each time there is a problem. The people I feel sorry for are those who have apartments and a private gated parking area as they have to put up with this all the time. Surely if I took a photo of the car with the reg in an illegal area with the date and time on the photo the gardai should be able to issue a fine or would they chuck it in the bin?

Schlemm

I dunno maybe you need a garda witness for photographic evidence or else it'll be no use to them. Would be no harm taking the reg's anyways tho. The cinema might have a camera over the lane too, that could be more use. Is it always the same folks parking there or does it differ?

Ginger83

I honestly couldnt tell you but I do know there is a multi-story for parking and people are either too mean to pay the charges or dont want the extra 50 yard walk. i mean if you can afford to go to the cinema you can afford 2 quid or whatever to park.

John R

Ginger83 wrote:

The gardai seem to turn a blind eye each time there is a problem. The people I feel sorry for are those who have apartments and a private gated parking area as they have to put up with this all the time. Surely if I took a photo of the car with the reg in an illegal area with the date and time on the photo the gardai should be able to issue a fine or would they chuck it in the bin?

If the Gards are too lazy/ignorant/corrupt to bother doing anything at the time then they won't bother doing anything after the fact either.

Spyral

if you're in the louth area gimme a call I'll get my dad to bring his jcb along..

mikemac

Ginger83 wrote:

My partner has a private carpark at work that leads out on to a laneway to a cinema. There is no room for parking spaces on this lane so the council have laid double yellow lines but there are 2 wheelchair space at 1 corner.

Why doesn't the employer seal off the carpark from the general public with a barrier that an employee swipecard could operate?

MarkR

If she can't get her car out then the other cars are parked dangerously. If she had to to to the hospital or some other emergency she'd be screwed. Call the guards every time it happens and have her employer put up signs advising of parking fines being issued.

I had to call when my drive was blocked, and that was a sunday morning.

davyjose

micmclo wrote:

Why doesn't the employer seal off the carpark from the general public with a barrier that an employee swipecard could operate?

I think he meant the carpark is private, not the laneway that leads onto it - where everybody parks.

Ginger83

Well said daveylose, she does not have a problem getting out of the carpark but once she's outside the gate she can't move