What are the Legalities of Parking Entirely on the Path?

blobert

Hello,

Not entirely sure if this is the correct forum for this but could not find a better one.

I've moved into a street that has an extremely wide footpath on one side and Pay and Display Parking on both sides of the street.

There are office buildings and apartments along the side with the wide path the office buildings are currently being disused for the most part.

Cars park up on the wide path most of the way along the street, they do this day and night and nothing is done about it.

There is a sign up on part of the path outside some apartments saying it is controlled by NCPS and they operate clamping. About 3 spaces are clearly marked, people tend not to park in these.

What I'm wondering is what the situation is with the cars completely parked on the path is?

Cars regularly get clamped in the Pay and Display area, am I right in thinking that the clampers have no authority to clamp cars that are completely off the road?

I'm pretty sure its an offence to park on the path but I believe it is up to the Gardai to remove your car and they tend not to do this unless it is blocking an emergency exit or complained about.

If the part of the pavement that people park on is private property does anyone have authority to clamp/remove them other than the owners of the property?

Finally if the owners of the property want to start clamping cars would they have to clearly sign this (as the apartments further along the street have done)?

Does anyone know or what the situation is with this, the above is just what I think to be the case, not sure if it actually is.

It’s a bit annoying having all these cars on the path but it’s my curiosity more than anything wondering how people can park fully on the path with seemingly no consequences.

Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Ham'nd'egger

Legally you can't park with your car on a footway as it's called in the 1997 act, even if it's just one wheel on the path. The Council clampers can only clamp on on the public roads. Now if it is a private piece of land then the landowners may well have their own policies to clamp.

rekrow

Hamndegger wrote: »

Legally you can't park with your car on a footway as it's called in the 1997 act, even if it's just one wheel on the path. The Council clampers can only clamp on on the public roads. Now if it is a private piece of land then the landowners may well have their own policies to clamp.

On my way into work this morning I passed two articulated trucks parked fully on a footpath. Now that's taking the.....

Where I work the business park owners marked out a footway around the park. It does not have raised kerbing but is painted a different colour and marked with a pedestrian logo. Cars constantly parked on it and no one seems to clamp. I wonder how a footway is defined?

Ste.phen

As I see it, the path + parking spaces off the path are owned by someone, who pays NCPS to patrol/clamp there. NCPS should probably be clamping the people on the path, it's likely they're not sure if they have the right to, though if it's privately owned by the same people as the 3 marked spaces, it should be OK. Maybe call them and ask?

blobert

Thanks for the replies.

I'm guessing NCPS only patrol the 3 marked spaces, it something about them being employed to do so by the management co of the apartments, I think this is seperate from the other buildings on the street. I'd say whoever owns the offices doesn't care about the cars outside as they are empty.

I'm guessing it is a bit of a grey area. Does anyone know if a company can clamp you on private property without advertising the fact. I'm guessing not, otherwise I could clamp anyone parking in my front garden and then tell them there is a €100,000 release fee.

Any further opinions would be greatly appreciated.

trellheim

Info.

Parking on a footway is illegal.

Section 36.2(i) of the Road Traffic Act 1997

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/si/0182.html#zzsi182y1997a36


End of discussion. There is no grey area. The council own the path and the road usually unless you're in a gated estate or other special case.

I saw that HamndEgger had got in before me but here's the 'footway' research

"footway" has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1) of the Act of 1993;

And the 1993 Act says :

"footway" means that portion of any road associated with a roadway which is provided primarily for use by pedestrians;

The definition of roadway does not say "public road"

Colm R

Is this Blackrock. There is an area in Blackrock where many cars have to cross the footpath to get to their parking spaces. There are some spaces that are maked out, but otherwise you could just call it random abandoned cars. Now don't get me wrong, there is plenty of space left for pedestrians, but there are two problems here:

The slab foothpath in the area is heavily damaged. On wet days, the underside of these slabs fill up with water. When foot meets slab, the slab sinks, and dirty water splashes up.Leading to annoyingly wet and dirty shoes and pants, not to mind cold feet.

The second problem is, on typical wet windy days, pedietrians tend to cover there poor heads with hood and umbrella. Visibility is dimished, but in fairness, its a footpath. A car reversed out from its space in front of me, and only for me to see it at the last second, I managed to jump out of the way. After letting the driver know of my disgruntled state, I was informed, and I quote in my best south side accent, "I've been parking here for years".

blobert

Thanks again for the replies.

I know its illegal, what I'm interested to find out is who has the right to enforce this as it seems strange that it goes on. This makes me think it must be the reponsibility of the Gardai or someone other than the clampers as I'd be amazed they are mising out on the revenue.

serfboard

blobert wrote: »

This makes me think it must be the reponsibility of the Gardai or someone other than the clampers as I'd be amazed they are mising out on the revenue.

That would be what I would imagine as well. So, people reasonably gamble that Garda enforcement will not be as frequent as clamper enforcement and continue to park there.

trellheim

Ring the council tell them your blind aunt keeps banging into cars on the footpath while walking down to get her newspaper:).

Tell them you'll get onto the councillors if they don't clamp.

Seriously it's a problem of people just not giving a toss.

Victor

If only some wheels are on the footway, the council consider it parking on the footway and will ticket / clamp accordingly.

If all the wheels are on the footway, is the footway obstructed? If yes, then ticket / clamp.

If the footway isn't obstructed, is the vehicle on public or private land, i.e. has the footway been taken in charge? If yes, then ticket / clamp. If no, then leave it alone.

trellheim wrote: »

Ring the council tell them your blind aunt keeps banging into cars on the footpath while walking down to get her newspaper:).

Braille newspaper?

markpb

Victor wrote: »

If only some wheels are on the footway, the council consider it parking on the footway and will ticket / clamp accordingly.

If it's in Dublin, neither the council nor the Gardai will do a thing. They have washed their hands of it and will only refer you to the clampers who, unless requested to by the Gardai, won't prioritise any calls outside the city centre.