Parking at Balbriggan Railway Station

SuzyS1972

Any advice on what time you'd need to be there by !

I have a feeling it's gonna be early ......

Any feedback would be appreciated - thanks

LouOB

I get the 7.02am train and there are no spaces at station. Only in car park around the corner - 2euro for the day.

To get space at station you have to
1.Get there at say 6am to 6.15am
2.Get lucky
3.Be disabled to use spaces

Gillo

Slightly off topic, but whats the story with leaving a scooter or bike there with regards to having it still there 13 hours later when I get back from town.

sgarvan

gillo wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but whats the story with leaving a scooter or bike there with regards to having it still there 13 hours later when I get back from town.

put a lock on it, lock it to the rake and it will be fine

Moonbeam

If you get the 06:17 train you will get a parking space,anything after that and it is pure luck.

Once you don't leave a scooter or bike there overnight it will normally be fine.

aniascor

sgarvan wrote: »

put a lock on it, lock it to the rake and it will be fine

That's what I thought, but in the past 15 months, I have had two bikes stolen from the station. Granted, one was a cheap bike that I had taken a risk with and left there overnight - no surprise when it was gone the next day, just mild annoyance.

The other was only a few months old, and was stolen last Thursday during the day. I left it there at 7am, and it was gone when I got home at 5.45pm. The lock was still there - it had been cut clean through using bolt cutters or some other type of equipment from the looks of it. (If anyone saw someone cycling away with a black and silver Newport Planet Ladies city bike that day, I would appreciate a PM about it.)

Station security saw nothing, and the guards weren't able to offer any help either.

If you are leaving a bike at the station, you are taking a risk with it, plain and simple. My husband's bike was stolen from there last winter - it was gone when we returned at 11pm one night.

Aside from theft, you can expect your bike to be vandalised regularly during the winter if it is there after 7pm. I remember one night last winter getting home to find the back tyre of every bike in the station punctured. No doubt someone thought it was hilarious. If you have a mountain bike with detachable mudguards, expect to find them taken off and thrown on the ground at least a couple of times over the course of a year. And the little vandals seem to enjoy destroying the brackets for light fittings on bikes too.

Sorry for all the negativity, as I'm sure it's not what you wanted to hear - but considering that I have had to report two bikes stolen, and had to report two cases of serious vandalism to my bike in just over a year, I don't want you to have any illusions about how safe your bike is at the station. (There were other cases of "mild" vandalism with no real damage done, which I didn't report.)

If it's any consolation, this problem seems to be confined to the dark winter evenings, and nothing has happened to my bike during the summer months.

aniascor

Apologies, got so caught up in my rant there, that I've just realised it was completely off-topic
To answer the OP's question, you would want to be at the station before 6.30 during the winter months to get a space. Unless you are lucky and it's one of those unusual quiet days that happen every now and again. As others have said, after that time you need to go to the other car park, which costs EUR2 for the day.

LouOB

Rant away Aniascor I have had to get two new front windscreens, rear passenger door, rear passenger door window, three parking fines (even though their fu*king machine was not working and phoned up office on the day ahhhhhh) plus got clamped, that was not my fault as boyfr was silly. Most of these from station alone and not car park. Also had bike (push bike not scooter) stolen.

The Garda now laugh when i go down to station - not messing.

I would not trust a pair of crusty knickers to come out of station the way they went in. I say prayer every day I walk back to my car at car park or station

aniascor

Believe it or not LouOB, I'm actually sorry to hear that I am not the only one who's had these problems. It's terrible that it is so widespread, and yet nothing is done.

Not this time, but the last time I went to the garda station to report a stolen bike, the guard taking the report laughed and said "ah sure, I wouldn't leave an armoured vehicle down there." Nice to know the problem is being taken seriously.

LouOB

I could rant away for hours on the level of crime, under resourced area and general community feeling (ie none) that this little town has.

Bring back Callaghan (dirty harry) type Garda- Id prefer a racist, sadistic, trigger happy mo fo on our streets on the strict arm of law any day.

To original OP if you can walk to station- try
Otherwise not even the holy grail can protect you from the level of scum that find their way into station and use your car for devilment or target pratice with what ever they find on ground or in your car (car was beaten up the car jack once - lovely)

SuzyS1972

God I'm shocked - I really am - this is bad news

Worried now about leaving my car in the car park all day
Was considering my bike only last night - it's a banger but still it's my banger.
What is wrong with people -

aniascor

SuzyS1972 - I honestly don't know what is wrong with them. The guard I spoke to last week said that "it's a certain element who hang out down there." And my guess is that that "element" were off school last week so I'd assume that's why my bike got stolen during the day instead of at night-time.

I think that a lot of crimes of this nature are seen as very petty crimes and are not really taken seriously - especially when it's bicycles that are involved rather than cars. Bikes are not considered to be expensive, so I guess it's not looked on as a huge loss, but the fact is that you cannot replace a bike for less than a couple of hundred euro. Even if you get a cheap bike for about 100, you still have to buy the lock (25-50 for a somewhat decent lock), the lights (another 25 - I actually still have my lights because I had taken them off my bike, but you can't buy the brackets separately, so I ended up having to buy a whole new set), and mudguards if they don't come with the bike (and if you have bought an inexpensive bike, they won't). So it all adds up.

I remember seeing an article in the North County People or one of those free papers a month or two ago telling the story of a poor student who came home one evening to find his bike stolen from Balbriggan station. And he couldn't afford the money it would cost to replace the bike. I'd imagine a lot of people would find themselves in the same situation.

Time for a few letters to our elected representatives...

aniascor

Just found my thread from last year on this: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055007937

LouOB

thanks for that - ask garda before re personal claim - that got another round of laughs.

shopaholic

Nov 2005 front driver door bent down and glass smashed in station during the day - insurance replaced it at cost of 1000 euro, Jan 2006 car burnt out while parked outside St Georges - got 7.15 train home to see it in flames!

aniascor

Wow - it is hard to believe that the level of crime detailed here and on other threads about bikes and cars at the station is considered so acceptable by the train station authorities and the gardai. I say "considered acceptable" because if it wasn't acceptable to them, they would be doing something about it.

I always wondered why anyone would choose to drive to work when the option of getting the train is available to them. Now I know.

dubmick

lol brilliant thread guys...keep up the good work

LouOB

You can come and spent night in town 'dubmick'

Chinafoot

Back on topic please.

If ye want to discuss the local amenities I can break off the relevant posts?