Garda gives parking fine at 2am

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 9:12am #1

Morning all, have a quick story about something that happened last night in town and want peoples views on it.

My friend was playing a gig in town last night, looks after all the gear and stuff. Basically the band finished up around 2am, so he went up to get his van and came back to find that there was a pile up of taxis blocking where he would usually park. He saw his friend waiting with the gear and said he'd throw the van up on the footpath there, half on double yellows and half on a disabled spot.(opposite geoffs) He didnt leave the van idle, stood there the whole time just opened the back door to put the stuff in.

Next thing a guard hops out of a paddy wagon and comes stormin over all high and mighty sayin, "which one of ye is disabled lads?" so my friend said listen I'm only after pullin in coz all the taxis are blocking where I normally park. It's too risky to park any further away cos drunk people think people carrying gear are hilarious and want to jump up on it, possibly leading to an accident(and from bad experiences in the past) "Not my problem" he says. So he begged him to have some sort of reasoning but he had none of it. €80 fine. He called up to the station straight away lookin to speak with a higher authority but there was no-one there. Just another guard who said he'd have a word but obviously wont. The two guards in the paddy wagon were laughin their heads off too. So frustating.

I know he was breaking the law and in the wrong but it just seems so petty and unneccessary. You'd think they would have given him a chance to move off. And I know they move every few mins but why arent all the taxis that are parked on double yellows not penalised?

Mossy Monk · 10-10-2009 9:18am

He parked illegally. The rules don't change when it is night time.

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 9:19am

I know yeah, it just sucks.

Maybe this would be better in the ranting forum!

DarkJager · 10-10-2009 9:26am

Mossy Monk wrote: »

He parked illegally. The rules don't change when it is night time.

No they shouldn't change, but common sense should be used especially when there's expensive equipment and drunk people in the same place.

Mossy Monk · 10-10-2009 9:34am

DarkJager wrote: »

No they shouldn't change, but common sense should be used especially when there's expensive equipment and drunk people in the same place.

Bend the rules? What's the point in having them in that case.

Are you one of the drivers that seems to think "a shur it will only be for 5 minutes" as you abandon your car with the lights flashing is acceptable?

DarkJager · 10-10-2009 9:40am

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Bend the rules? What's the point in having them in that case.

Are you one of the drivers that seems to think "a shur it will only be for 5 minutes" as you abandon your car with the lights flashing is acceptable?

No I never do that, I detest that actually. But look at the situation logically:

2pm in the day: Car parked in disabled spot for no good reason - absolutely bring the hammer down.

2am in the morning: Possibly 1K plus of equipment to be moved, with the threat of intoxicated people trying to steal/damage it - perfectly acceptable to use the spot as its only loading up for a few minutes at most and the car is not unattended.

MrJetlag · 10-10-2009 9:46am

For future reference - get your friend to walk with a limp and pretend he has cerebral palsy.
Speaking like Christy brown should do the trick and get rid of old bill also

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 9:52am

DarkJager wrote: »

No I never do that, I detest that actually. But look at the situation logically:

2pm in the day: Car parked in disabled spot for no good reason - absolutely bring the hammer down.

2am in the morning: Possibly 1K plus of equipment to be moved, with the threat of intoxicated people trying to steal/damage it - perfectly acceptable to use the spot as its only loading up for a few minutes at most and the car is not unattended.

more than 1k i would imagine with 2 guitars, bass, drum kit, speakers, stands, mics etc.. thanks for seeing it from our side! I hate and would never park in a disabled or on yellow lines but at 2am theres tonnes of cars pulling in left right and centre in town. from taxis to people getting lifts, its the usual chaos. it seems someone just wanted an easy booking.

seandepaul · 10-10-2009 10:00am

I think its completely understandable what you did. You just know some drunken fool would "fall" over your equipment and try and claim you were in the wrong or worse still try rob it.

Are the taxis not parked illegally outside of the Kazbar? Not sure just wondering?

Sure god forbid the cops do any real work. Whilst they were being completely unreasonable there was probably someone getting there head kicked in down the road. But they couldn't be doing real work when there's money to be made!!!

DarkJager · 10-10-2009 10:02am

vixenbees wrote: »

more than 1k i would imagine with 2 guitars, bass, drum kit, speakers, stands, mics etc.. thanks for seeing it from our side! I hate and would never park in a disabled or on yellow lines but at 2am theres tonnes of cars pulling in left right and centre in town. from taxis to people getting lifts, its the usual chaos. it seems someone just wanted an easy booking.

I know exactly how you see it, I have to move my DJ equipment (well over 1k+) after gigs and there is no way in hell I would risk not having the car outside the venue. Are the gardai going to replace my gear if it gets wrecked by some drunk clown? I think not.

uberwolf · 10-10-2009 10:06am

FFS, that's completely unreasonable. Van was attended, so had the space been needed it was available.

triple-M · 10-10-2009 10:07am

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Bend the rules? What's the point in having them in that case.

Are you one of the drivers that seems to think "a shur it will only be for 5 minutes" as you abandon your car with the lights flashing is acceptable?

discretion can be used,particularly when its late at night and they are not getting in any ones way,cop was obviously on a bit of a power buzz,or had a bit of a chip on his shoulder,because surely if they were parking on the footpath at the venue as opposed to down the road to avoid confronting drunken people,then the cops would of been better off keeping an eye on the drunks and not ticketing people unnecessarily

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 10:08am

See I dunno if the taxis are considered parked vehicles since at that time of night they move on every few mins. But yeah when the taxis are backed up they sit on the yellow lines outside the kazbar, thats where he'd usually pull up.

JohnC. · 10-10-2009 10:11am

It's not their business what equipment you are moving (as long as it isn't illegal). It is their business if you are parked on a footpath, parked on double yellows or parked in a disabled spot. Or all three.

south · 10-10-2009 10:26am

Tell him not to pay the fine, wait for the summons to come, go to court tell the judge what happened he’ll most likely throw it out and get onto the guard for wasting public money for bringing the case to court. Maybe before that he should call up to the station again and ask for the guard who issued the fine and see if he’ll change his mind, maybe then ask for his sergeant and explain to him what happened. If he gets nowhere tell them he's going to go to court and take his chances infront of a judge

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 10:41am

vixenbees wrote: »

Morning all, have a quick story about something that happened last night in town and want peoples views on it.

My friend was playing a gig in town last night, looks after all the gear and stuff. Basically the band finished up around 2am, so he went up to get his van and came back to find that there was a pile up of taxis blocking where he would usually park. He saw his friend waiting with the gear and said he'd throw the van up on the footpath there, half on double yellows and half on a disabled spot.(opposite geoffs) He didnt leave the van idle, stood there the whole time just opened the back door to put the stuff in.

Next thing a guard hops out of a paddy wagon and comes stormin over all high and mighty sayin, "which one of ye is disabled lads?" so my friend said listen I'm only after pullin in coz all the taxis are blocking where I normally park. It's too risky to park any further away cos drunk people think people carrying gear are hilarious and want to jump up on it, possibly leading to an accident(and from bad experiences in the past) "Not my problem" he says. So he begged him to have some sort of reasoning but he had none of it. €80 fine. He called up to the station straight away lookin to speak with a higher authority but there was no-one there. Just another guard who said he'd have a word but obviously wont. The two guards in the paddy wagon were laughin their heads off too. So frustating.

I know he was breaking the law and in the wrong but it just seems so petty and unneccessary. You'd think they would have given him a chance to move off. And I know they move every few mins but why arent all the taxis that are parked on double yellows not penalised?

This is so typical of some particular attitudes I myself notice in some Irish garda in this country. Its a power trip thing in my opinion!! I lived in london for many years and rarely seen the same attitude as some of these fellows have here. I have seen so many different instances where a little COMMON SENSE would come in handy but not all of them have the luxury of being born with it. I had the same in Galway a while ago and stood my ground regarding a very similar situation--taxis bumper to bumper a mile back from their rank and blocking the entrance to my gig--I have a large rig to unload- and there was no way I was going to be able to carry it any other way than park outside the venue. I was causing no obstruction that was any different to the taxis and along comes Sergeant Dick with a stinking attitude. If I was causing an obstruction then i would have moved immediately but I was not in the mood to be talked down to and after reasoning with him briefly he allowed me 5 mins. I politely told him it might be 10 as i have a mountain of stuff and he went off. Now, because he was REASONABLY polite about it i made the effort and asked the bouncers to help out and sure enough i was back in the chaos of trying to find a parking spot about 5-7 mins later and no harm done to anyone.
I also notice that there is a bad attitude from young guards here ,to some of our young people and its actually having a detrimental effect instead of maybe encouraging them to be law abiding citizens. I have 2 sons aged 19 and 25 and there was often times when the attitude of certain guards only served to victimize and alienate rather than the opposite. Thankfully they were able to ignore these occasions and are better men for that but at the end of the day if a person is being treated disrespectfully then they might very well show the same disrespect back to whoever is showing that disrespect. On that note, one of my sons was driving a few weeks ago and his tax was 11 days out of date when he was stopped. And low and behold he received a letter in the post yesterday for a 60 euro fine. Would one not think that that guard would use a little discretion and warn him at least and give him a day or two to get his tax sorted. He was polite to the guard and explained that he had just started college and had forgotten to tax it what with all the starting college thing ,but would have it the next day but then this arrives. No common sense in my opinion!!!
Rusty

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 10:57am

south wrote: »

Tell him not to pay the fine, wait for the summons to come, go to court tell the judge what happened he’ll most likely throw it out and get onto the guard for wasting public money for bringing the case to court. Maybe before that he should call up to the station again and ask for the guard who issued the fine and see if he’ll change his mind, maybe then ask for his sergeant and explain to him what happened. If he gets nowhere tell them he's going to go to court and take his chances infront of a judge

Good idea. Do you need a solicitor for this kind of stuff?

JohnC. · 10-10-2009 10:57am

Give him a day or two to get his tax sorted? Sounds like he already had 11 days + however many days since the renewal notice arrived. It only takes 5 minutes to do it online. Was he really that busy? It is one of the responsibilities that comes with owning a car.

south · 10-10-2009 11:00am

vixenbees wrote: »

Good idea. Do you need a solicitor for this kind of stuff?

it would help alright but no i don't think so

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 11:16am

Rusty, I think your son was very unlucky about the tax. I bought a car a few months ago, it came with no disk. I had serious trouble getting the garage to put the logbook in my name so I could get it taxed, went on for about 2 months and I swear I must've been stopped at at least 4 checkpoints during that 2 month period, (I remember thinking how typical when you have everything you'd never get stopped) and none of the guards said a word to me. I explained I had just bought the car and was waiting on the garage and they said no problem, it was mad but I was really glad of their understanding since it was a genuine problem.

mikemac · 10-10-2009 11:19am

vixenbees wrote: »

Good idea. Do you need a solicitor for this kind of stuff?

Getting a solicitor is going to cost you more then the parking fine is worth.
I'm not saying you should just pay the fine but is it realy worth it?

dannydiamond · 10-10-2009 11:25am

south wrote: »

Tell him not to pay the fine, wait for the summons to come, go to court

Good idea! Why not get into more sh1t as he's at it!:rolleyes:

Your mate just got unlucky, he wasn't too out of order but the guards weren't either,tell him to pay the fine and forget about it.

Going to court with this is be the most retarded advice i've seen on this forum.

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 11:28am

dannydiamond wrote: »

Good idea! Why not get into more sh1t as he's at it!:rolleyes:

Your mate just got unlucky, he wasn't too out of order but the guards weren't either,tell him to pay the fine and forget about it.

Going to court with this is be the most retarded advice i've seen on this forum.

I've heard of people who go to court and talk themselves out of all sorts so you never know.

dannydiamond · 10-10-2009 11:33am

vixenbees wrote: »

I've heard of people who go to court and talk themselves out of all sorts so you never know.

No judge will throw this out,it's black and white. As petty as it is he broke the law and he has to take his medicine.
If anything,a judge will increase the fine and be pissed at your mate wasting his time not the guards.

south · 10-10-2009 11:40am

dannydiamond wrote: »

Good idea! Why not get into more sh1t as he's at it!:rolleyes:

Your mate just got unlucky, he wasn't too out of order but the guards weren't either,tell him to pay the fine and forget about it.

Going to court with this is be the most retarded advice i've seen on this forum.

take it anyway you want lad but i didn't give it to you. The worse that would happen is the judge enforcing the fine of €80. if you look at my first post i told him to go to the station first and try sort it out if not then it's another option.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 12:00pm

Kahless wrote: »

Give him a day or two to get his tax sorted? Sounds like he already had 11 days + however many days since the renewal notice arrived. It only takes 5 minutes to do it online. Was he really that busy? It is one of the responsibilities that comes with owning a car.

Yes I know but theres also the fact that a few of his friends were in the same position a few times and were lucky enough to meet a guard who was able to exercise a bit of common sense and leniency and a warning can sometimes be better than issuing fines--its not as if he is a criminal prowling the highways and byways and one would often wonder where the guards are when criminals are out attacking the elderly and robbing around the country at night. Its very easy to fire out a few fixed penalties and summons for paltry offenses when the real crimes go unpunished.
As I said it was his first time and I always thought there was an unwritten rule in days gone by that you got 8-10 days to tax your car after it expired.
So his was 11 days out of date

wow!!! Bring in the ERU !!!

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 12:19pm

triple-M wrote: »

discretion can be used,particularly when its late at night and they are not getting in any ones way,cop was obviously on a bit of a power buzz,or had a bit of a chip on his shoulder,because surely if they were parking on the footpath at the venue as opposed to down the road to avoid confronting drunken people,then the cops would of been better off keeping an eye on the drunks and not ticketing people unnecessarily

Very well Said!! A power buzz indeed!!!

I recently witnessed 8 of them making a very feeble attempt to remove a band of drunken travellers who had wrecked a pub and were refusing to leave. The guards were like lambs compared to how this incident would be handled in Britain or any other European country and being an ex publican I have had first hand experience of this fact. They were subjected to insults and language that you would have to hear yourself to believe it and all they done was put on false smiles and allow about 20 breaches of the peace take place in front of their eyes without lifting a finger. I witnessed a guard going back into the premises to organize takeaways of drink for these drunken louts because that was the only way they would agree to leave town. Talk about holding a town to ransom --the wild west springs to mind!! The area was left like a battlefield with rubbish and sh..t thrown out of vans right in front of the cops noses. As I said its very easy to give easy fixed penalties to young drivers and summons for petty offences and clog up the court system with half the offenses being thrown out anyway because judges nowadays can see through whats going on. But when SOME of these brave boys are faced with bully boy tactics from our travelling cousins or real criminals they are not the big men they might be when having a bad attitude towards some young fella who is struggling to get himself through college and keep a car on the road.
They need to wise up in Templemore and realize that their training is turning some of these fellas into thugs. Not all--but definately some need an attitude transplant!! Thats my opinion!!

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 12:25pm

vixenbees wrote: »

Rusty, I think your son was very unlucky about the tax. I bought a car a few months ago, it came with no disk. I had serious trouble getting the garage to put the logbook in my name so I could get it taxed, went on for about 2 months and I swear I must've been stopped at at least 4 checkpoints during that 2 month period, (I remember thinking how typical when you have everything you'd never get stopped) and none of the guards said a word to me. I explained I had just bought the car and was waiting on the garage and they said no problem, it was mad but I was really glad of their understanding since it was a genuine problem.

I agree Vixenbees--I always heard there was a sort of unwritten law that you got 10 days at least-- I was often stopped myself and a polite warning was always enough to get me sorting out any problem whether it was tax or NCT or whatever. And anyway you had to pay from the end of the last month anyway when renewing your tax so there was no loss to the revenue.
Its petty and childish of the guard in question in my opinion and he must really need a few brownie points..

kryogen · 10-10-2009 12:47pm

vixenbees wrote: »

Good idea. Do you need a solicitor for this kind of stuff?

just pay the fine, its irritating yes, but you dont have a case from a legal point of view and its not worth the hassle. put it down to experience and move on

dannydiamond wrote: »

Good idea! Why not get into more sh1t as he's at it!:rolleyes:

Your mate just got unlucky, he wasn't too out of order but the guards weren't either,tell him to pay the fine and forget about it.

This ^^^^^^^^^^

vixenbees wrote: »

I've heard of people who go to court and talk themselves out of all sorts so you never know.

believe me, your friend was parked illegally, they will not throw this out, the fine will possibly go up for wasting the courts time

it really isnt worth it, just take it on the chin and move on.

i sympathise with your friend, dont get me wrong, but you guys are on a loser if you try fight this, maybe try talk to the Garda in question again and appeal to his better nature but if it comes to it then pay the fine

vixenbees · 10-10-2009 1:11pm

Yeah thats what he'll probably do.hadn't even thought about not paying and letting it go to court until it was mentioned here.

I was only asking whats involved, not saying he'd definately not pay it.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 1:40pm

vixenbees wrote: »

Yeah thats what he'll probably do.hadn't even thought about not paying and letting it go to court until it was mentioned here.

I was only asking whats involved, not saying he'd definately not pay it.

Well in my humble opinion this could go either way,
My wife was a witness in court the other day and several other cases came up first and she was telling me about a case where the guy stood up himself and gave the evidence. It appears he was lost and in a line of traffic at a roadworks detour in the west of Ireland, he got out his mobile phone and rang a friend to get the correct address. The call was finished before the cars moved off and he had put down the phone but lo and behold a few days later received a summons out of the blue and it appeared a garda had spotted him and taken his registration. He stood up in court himself--the guards dont like that by the way-and explained it to the judge and he threw it out.
The Irish people have taken it lying down for too long and are only now learning to stand up for themselves. Its been the same with overcharging and ripped off here in Ireland for years
Stand up and be counted is the message!!!!

markok84 · 10-10-2009 2:35pm

I say bring it to court, make sure your mate dresses in a suit and tie and has all papers relating to the cars tax and insurance in order and with him. The court will be full of scumbags in tracksuits so the judge will be impressed by your friends attire, be concise and explain exactly what happened.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 3:07pm

markok84 wrote: »

I say bring it to court, make sure your mate dresses in a suit and tie and has all papers relating to the cars tax and insurance in order and with him. The court will be full of scumbags in tracksuits so the judge will be impressed by your friends attire, be concise and explain exactly what happened.

The easy option is to pay up

But its a shame to bow down and grin and bear it as they say

First of all it was not his fault that his access was blocked by taxis to where he would normally load his van

Secondly he was not causing an obstruction --I presume?

Third--how was he supposed to protect his expensive equipment otherwise--leave it in the street to be damaged by drunks??

Its 2am in the morning for gods sake--the judge may say that the garda in question would be serving his time better by keeping an eye on the drug dealers and drunks instead of wasting court time with trivial complaints

wmpdd3 · 10-10-2009 4:56pm

Rules are rules, I love this idea that disabled spots aren't needed in the night! I've heard it so many times.

Or the one where 'I could move if some one wanted the parking spot'.

Couldn't the taxi drivers come back with the same argument, but no one is going to ask them to move.
You depend on the police to enforce the rules so you don't have to argue the rules of the road with a stranger at 2am. You expect the taxi drivers abid by the law so you can.

As far as I'm concerned zero tolerance. If you have a problem with a law, change the law, don't just ignore it.

seanybiker · 10-10-2009 4:59pm

fair enough he broke the law but it was a bit harsh of the cop. Tell him to ring the station and ask for the sarge who was on at the time and see if he will help your mate out. If not I would just take it on the chin and pay the fine. Wouldnt be bothered going to court about it meself.

Other chap. Your son didnt have tax, he got a fine, tis only a few yo yo's, dont worry about it. Tell your son to get a motorbike. My last bike was 3 months out of date, then it got robbed. Saved meself 70 quid for the years tax.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 6:49pm

Couldn't the taxi drivers come back with the same argument, but no one is going to ask them to move.
You depend on the police to enforce the rules so you don't have to argue the rules of the road with a stranger at 2am. You expect the taxi drivers abid by the law so you can.

As far as I'm concerned zero tolerance. If you have a problem with a law, change the law, don't just ignore it.[/QUOTE]

Well this guy was also working in the same way as the taxi drivers were working --its a pity the cops didnt ask them to move out of his way so he could load his gear
Would that not have been a fairer way of dealing with it???

seanybiker · 10-10-2009 8:28pm

why couldnt he ask them himself.
Its done now anyways. Whats the point say why didnt ya do this why didnt ya do that. Pay the fine and get on with life. If a crappy little fine is the worse thing that happens in your life, I think you should be able to make it through it.

What time is cut off for disabled people to be allowed outside anyways? I could swear I seen a few on nights out before.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 8:50pm

seanybiker wrote: »

why couldnt he ask them himself.
Its done now anyways. Whats the point say why didnt ya do this why didnt ya do that. Pay the fine and get on with life. If a crappy little fine is the worse thing that happens in your life, I think you should be able to make it through it.

What time is cut off for disabled people to be allowed outside anyways? I could swear I seen a few on nights out before.

Nothing to do with disabled people--he was with the van all the time with the doors open
And nothing to do with paying a crappy fine---its the principal of the thing that matters. We need to lose the downtrodden attitude in this country and stand up for ourselves now and again

old boy · 10-10-2009 8:58pm

i am of the opinion that then most important law regardless of which, land or god, is the law of common sense, can one apply it here, this is what you say to the judge, but make sure that you have a solicitor, judges do not like to have solicitors unemployed.

rusty999 · 10-10-2009 9:04pm

old boy wrote: »

i am of the opinion that then most important law regardless of which, land or god, is the law of common sense, can one apply it here, this is what you say to the judge, but make sure that you have a solicitor, judges do not like to have solicitors unemployed.

Well said old boy!!!
Thats exactly what I was saying earlier
Even in a foreign country you would be given the benefit of a few minutes to load a van and its not as if this guy was having a night on the town for gods sake!!
He was working!!!!

foxylad · 10-10-2009 9:17pm

2am is a crazy time for traffic in John St. ive seen taxis getting tickets from Gardai for blocking the street - being in no parking areas. they are treated the same way. sometimes if they think they Gardai are being unfair - they go on strike!!
same rules for everyone! sorry lads

Sully · 10-10-2009 9:26pm

foxylad wrote: »

2am is a crazy time for traffic in John St. ive seen taxis getting tickets from Gardai for blocking the street - being in no parking areas. they are treated the same way. sometimes if they think they Gardai are being unfair - they go on strike!!
same rules for everyone! sorry lads

Agreed 100%.

The Gardai have been fairly strict in that area especially, all the time, for everyone. That place is mental at 2am - worse then it is a few hours previous and thats fairly bad also. You will all recall the taxi strike because they got a ticket from a guard for blocking it up and on many occasions I have actually seen them on "point duty" effectively at that time of the night. Taxis in Waterford are part of the chaos - they don't give a ****e where they park and have a hissy fit when they are given a fine for blocking everyone.

If the Guard explains to the judge about how bad traffic was, that your van broke not one but three parking laws, and that it was causing problems to an already chaotic scene - you will end up worse then you came in. You can all use your basic theory that "Its 2am - the judge will throw it out!!!" - clearly the judge will be told just how bad the place is and how the OP contributed, making it worse. Then the judge will use his common sense and agree with the Guard. Its not just a quiet all street at 2am where the van is having no effect - its much more (regardless - the Guard was simply enforcing the law you broke anyway. A judge may not throw it out even if it was quiet, since you still clearly broke three parking offenses).

Sorry - but you gotta learn your lesson on this one. Nobody, regardless of the time, is allowed park in such a way thats a nuisance. You effected normal flow of foot and vehicle traffic and blocked a disabled parking space. You deserve more then a small slap on the wrist for that tbh. Anybody who blocks a disabled parking space (or a footpath) should be given 2 penalty points and a large fine for selfishness.

honeybadger · 10-10-2009 10:33pm

just call it a lesson learned op and park on the double yello lines or a taxi spot the next time and not in the disabled spot,,at least then you wont look like a perfectly able bodied smug git lifting your gear into a disavantaged parking area and at least you will have the garda see you struggling shifting your gear.....hindsight

,,,i do agree with you over the commen sense issue tho but wot can you do

seanybiker · 11-10-2009 3:43am

rusty999 wrote: »

Nothing to do with disabled people--he was with the van all the time with the doors open
And nothing to do with paying a crappy fine---its the principal of the thing that matters. We need to lose the downtrodden attitude in this country and stand up for ourselves now and again

Thats fair enough. The principal of it. Do you think that maybe the cop had principals when he was doing his job?
Dont get me wrong. I think the cop was a bit harsh but his principals where right and he was doing his job.
Im in court meself the start of next year for something small albeit worse than what this thread is about but Im taking it on me chin. I know I was wrong. People keep telling me to say this and do this and it will help my case but I honestly couldnt be bothered. I done wrong and got caught. What Im getting done for happens every day and night. I done it a few times without getting caught but Im owning upto it.
Way I am is , ya do the crime ya pay the time.
Just pay the fine and thats the end of it.

Other chap. There is no use going on about this not happening in other countries . We are in ireland not another country.
Other countries seem to "accept" honour killings. Should we accept that aswell?
Didnt think so.

vixenbees · 11-10-2009 8:40am

foxylad wrote: »

2am is a crazy time for traffic in John St. ive seen taxis getting tickets from Gardai for blocking the street - being in no parking areas. they are treated the same way. sometimes if they think they Gardai are being unfair - they go on strike!!
same rules for everyone! sorry lads

God I cant believe that. I didnt know guards hand out tickets to taxis for that!! john street is definately mental at night but does giving the taxis tickets change anything there, cos they'll still have to line up the next night? Anyway, least we know its not just a once off or a guard on a power trip... fair enough if its regularly patrolled and he just got caught.

Have to say, it is very squashed around that area and theres not many places to park up, especially if you're unloading heavy expensive gear. The rules of the road tend to bend when the streets are full and cars are everywhere, in bus lanes, sitting in car lanes with blinkers on, waiting on yellow lines, its the NORM. Bands play in Masons, Kazbar, Revolution, Rubys Lounge every weekend so unfortunately a double park might be required to get the stuff out safely. Some have back streets or back entrances where a car could pull in, but others dont. The main streets are jammers with drunk people so having to go further than a few metres with amp's/speakers is not worth the risk. I see them do it week in, week out so I know it is not as black and white as some people see it, there are other priorities to consider (however selfish) and I suppose that comes at a cost. Thats the risk that was taken and the price was paid.

Cabaal · 11-10-2009 9:35am

It sucks to hell but he was in the wrong, fine is 100% legit,
Sure I could double park or whatever and I could justify it by saying getting old person, have expensive stuff etc etc

Cabaal · 11-10-2009 9:38am

rusty999 wrote: »

Well this guy was also working in the same way as the taxi drivers were working --its a pity the cops didnt ask them to move out of his way so he could load his gear
Would that not have been a fairer way of dealing with it???

Its not the Gardai's job to ask the taxi drivers to move for another party, especially if the taxi drivers were not in the wrong...if the Gardai did go and ask the taxi drivers to move then this is a waste of gardai time.

If the van driver was so pushed he should have asked the taxi drivers to move, but he didn't instead he broke the law and appears to assume that because he "has expensive stuff" it makes it ok to break the law.

Reality says otherwise of course and he was in the wrong

Cabaal · 11-10-2009 9:44am

old boy wrote: »

i am of the opinion that then most important law regardless of which, land or god, is the law of common sense, can one apply it here, this is what you say to the judge, but make sure that you have a solicitor, judges do not like to have solicitors unemployed.

Common sense changes person to person, what one person thinks is common sense is far from it for another person.,

That is extremely clear in this thread that what people view as common sense differs, this is why we have laws which are voted on and then put in place.

rusty999 · 11-10-2009 11:49am

Exactly right!! The taxis were in the wrong

seandepaul wrote: »

I think its completely understandable what you did. You just know some drunken fool would "fall" over your equipment and try and claim you were in the wrong or worse still try rob it.

Are the taxis not parked illegally outside of the Kazbar? Not sure just wondering?

Sure god forbid the cops do any real work. Whilst they were being completely unreasonable there was probably someone getting there head kicked in down the road. But they couldn't be doing real work when there's money to be made!!!

rusty999 · 11-10-2009 11:52am

No they will not replace it but its a lot easier for them to fire out a quick fine at 2am in the morning when half the town is off their heads on booze and stuff. Bad decision by this garda big time as the guy was working late at night and causing no breach of the peace, Disgraceful!!!

DarkJager wrote: »

I know exactly how you see it, I have to move my DJ equipment (well over 1k+) after gigs and there is no way in hell I would risk not having the car outside the venue. Are the gardai going to replace my gear if it gets wrecked by some drunk clown? I think not.

Cabaal · 11-10-2009 12:05pm

rusty999 wrote: »

Exactly right!! The taxis were in the wrong

Doesn't really matter if Taxi's were in the wrong, two wrongs do not make a right so the van driver still broke the law by parking where he did

Garda gives parking fine at 2am

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