Parking Wardens... what assholes!

sarah88

whats the deal with parking wadens?? I have gotten so many parking fines over the past couple of years(many of them deservedly so). Last week however i got a letter in the door to say i had been fined. The parking warden hadn bothered to leave a fine on the car. I was convinced that i had a valid parking disk displayed (as i got a fine the day before) so wasn risking another one. Turns out it was the same warden who gave me both fines, who clearly didn even bother checking my car. Not the first time this happened either. :mad:

Anyone else have bad experiences with parking wardens??

SUNGOD

???.. so did you have a valid ticket or not?

JohnC.

And did you have it displayed properly?

sarah88

o ye had it displayed nd everything, even found it in my car the other day, brought it over to the council to appeal it, so we'l see what happens. its just annoying that they do it in the first place. As i said its not the first time that they havnt bothered to leave the fine on the window,so i dont no until i get the letter in the door. So have to keep a hold of all the little tickets that i buy now just incase they fine me anway!!:mad:

AdMMM

Some idiots also have a habit of taking them off peoples cars.

mikemac

sarah88 wrote: »

. As i said its not the first time that they havnt bothered to leave the fine on the window,

Maybe kids out messing took the ticket. Got curious, looked at it and threw it away

sarah88

ye thats what they tend to say over in the council aswell, could well be the case. Happened to the bf before tho, (he has a permit for the car), he was comin out of his house and saw the parkin warden walking past his road. He got a fine in the door a few days later

Chris P. Bacon

They are not my favourite people either,there is one fella who i hate with a passion,but they have got a job to do.

sarah88

ye its true, but some of them are sound enuf, just do their job, but i think others 1 in particular, (more then likely the same 1 that your thinkin bout) goes on a bit of a power buzz!!

Aquos76

Jesus lads, hasn't the mobile phone really ruined the English language

Chris P. Bacon

sarah88 wrote: »

ye its true, but some of them are sound enuf, just do their job, but i think others 1 in particular, (more then likely the same 1 that your thinkin bout) goes on a bit of a power buzz!!

Yeah most of them are grand,but there is that one man who isn't,I'm sure its the same person you are talking about.

Aquos76 wrote: »

Jesus lads, hasn't the mobile phone really ruined the English language

It sure has,a lot of people here including a mod have very bad spelling.

Gadgie

A friend of mine was fined last winter, despite having a parking permit. Heavy frost had covered the window and obscured the permit. He appealed the fine but was told he would have to pay - apparently it was his responsibility to keep the window clear!:eek:

sarah88

yeah thats actually unbelieveable, i remember passing a car early this year, the window screen was compleatly covered in ice- and the warden had given them a fine:eek: its crazy!!

Professey Chin

I got one a couple weeks ago right outside my house for not having a parking permit or ticket displayed. Funny thing was I had the permit displayed on the window and there wasnt anything that could be covering it.Plus it was given a time of 10:35am but I was gone from the house before half 10
What made it worse was I had the car parked there for a few weeks without tax,permit,parking ticket or anything on it while waiting for the log book to come back to me and I didnt get a ticket while it was like that :pac:

ziedth

Slightly off topic but my old man never buy's them. His theory is that he's been done maybe twice over the years but he has it worked out that he is up money.

Even more off topic but Pre-Recession I was actually offered a job to be one. I can tell ya the money is nothing to be scoffed at.

Smiley Burnett

i'm sorry lads, but i just done believe half the stories posted on here.

CantGetNoSleep

How long does it take a ticket to come in the post? That dickhead you are all on about was in the middle of writing one for me a few weeks ago when i got back to the car and drove off, he said he was posting it but it hasn't arrived

ziedth

I'd imagine well within a few weeks. I'd say your grand.

STIG83

ziedth wrote: »

Slightly off topic but my old man never buy's them. His theory is that he's been done maybe twice over the years but he has it worked out that he is up money.

Even more off topic but Pre-Recession I was actually offered a job to be one. I can tell ya the money is nothing to be scoffed at.

Does Papa Ziedth just takes a chance everytime he parks in Waterford then? hoping he wont get fined?

Gadgie

ziedth wrote: »

Slightly off topic but my old man never buy's them. His theory is that he's been done maybe twice over the years but he has it worked out that he is up money.

I've heard this argument before, but personally I'd rather pay a euro or two whenever I park than be stung with a forty euro fine, even if it adds up to more in the long run.

I did get a parking fine once when I was in the shop getting change for the meter. Must have only been parked up for a few minutes. Would have protested with the warden, but he/she was nowhere to been seen. I appealed it, attaching a photocopy of my pay and display ticket which was bought two minutes after the fine was issued, and they cancelled it.

Chris P. Bacon

Gadgie wrote: »

I've heard this argument before, but personally I'd rather pay a euro or two whenever I park than be stung with a forty euro fine, even if it adds up to more in the long run.

I did get a parking fine once when I was in the shop getting change for the meter. Must have only been parked up for a few minutes. Would have protested with the warden, but he/she was nowhere to been seen. I appealed it, attaching a photocopy of my pay and display ticket which was bought two minutes after the fine was issued, and they cancelled it.

Reminds me of this

kayaksurfbum

There is a pretty sound warden in town that iv bumped into a few times, i pulled up onto the kerb on o connell st because the loading bay was full of cars (i drive a van) was unloading a few boxes when the warden waved at me from accross the street and shouted, "will you be finished by the time i give all these cars tickets" I think that was pretty cool of him.

I got a ticket in Galway while i was unloading once, the engine was still running! Its hard enough to do get business without the added cost of getting a ticket because some one has parked there car in a loading bay.

dermo909

I'll be the first to step up to the plate and say the following:

Pay for your parking and you wont get fined.

There, I said it! Obviously that does'nt help the people that have valid parking permits that the warden has'nt seen or been bothered to look for.

I've never gotten a parking ticket because I am aware that there are people out there who's job it is to fine people who have'nt paid for their parking or are parked in places they should'nt be.

Junior

There's a certain parking warden that's a proper ****, he was born for the uniform, he had an arguement with me one day because I was facing the wrong way while parked up. Herself was in Dunnes getting a few bits, I was parked up sitting in the car not on double yellow, not in a loading bay, but he insisted I'd have to go because I was parked facing the 'wrong' way. I told to him to jog on, but he was insisting on writing a ticket, so to be fair, I did a donut on the street and f*cked off.

sarah88

Jesus thats taking it a bit too far now, thats crazy trying to give you a ticket for facing 'the wrong way' on a road.:eek:what an ass! That one takes the biscuit!

wellboy76

To be perfectly honest, the guys in the City are fine but there is one lad in Fungarvan who I swear is a member of the Gestappo

JohnC.

You are supposed to park in the direction of the traffic flow. You certainly can get a ticket for parking against it.

real stig

I got one yesterday while parked outside my house on a quiet street in Cork, no-one obstructed or needing the spot but what can you do. I'm afraid when kids get bullied in school you can end up with asshole parking wardens that don't have common sense

kryogen

Take that to the Cork forum my good man

I have met one sound guy, possibly the same as a previous poster mentioned cause i have had similar experiences with him. eg, he let me run into penneys the other day to grab a pair of pants if i could be back before he finished writing up tickets for the other cars parked illegally, and sure enough he did, he was actually waiting for me when i came out and joked about how slow i was and that he could have written me up about 5 tickets in the time i had taken to get one pair of pants

parking warden humour? perhaps, but he is pretty sound

danjo-xx

Kahless wrote: »

You are supposed to park in the direction of the traffic flow. You certainly can get a ticket for parking against it.

Never heard of that in all me days..... is that in the Rules of thd Road?

JohnC.

danjo-xx wrote: »

Never heard of that in all me days..... is that in the Rules of thd Road?

First one on this page
http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/parking/general-rules.html

echosound

Kahless wrote: »

First one on this page
http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/parking/general-rules.html

it states "where possible" park in the direction of traffic flow. How can they give a ticket for something which is so open to interpretation? I would take that to be a guideline for ease of parking, rather than a fixed rule that carries defined penalties for not adhering to. Those general rules also state to leave a car parked in either first gear or reverse, are traffic wardens also giving out tickets if they can somehow spy that a car has been left parked in second gear (or shock horror, in neutral).

On the topic of over-zealous traffic wardens, I previously posted a slight rant here about the same thing. My solution was to avoid having to park in Waterford centre at all, and if I do, to try to do so in private carparks (like city sq, newgate st etc).
So in my case, the council are losing revenue to private operators (and to other towns that operate a more user-friendly parking system, such as first 20 minutes free) for being over-zealous.

JohnC.

echosound wrote: »

it states "where possible" park in the direction of traffic flow. How can they give a ticket for something which is so open to interpretation?

How is it open to interpretation? It's either possible or impossible.

echosound

Kahless wrote: »

How is it open to interpretation? It's either possible or impossible.

It's open to interpretation as to whether it's a ticketable offence or not if you park against the flow of traffic. It's open to interpretation as to whether you can park against the flow of traffic at all. All it says is "where possible, park in the direction of traffic flow".

It does not state that it is an actual breach of rules, and a ticketable offence, to park against the flow of traffic. Hence the being open to interpretation. If they wanted it to read "never park against the flow of traffic" they would have written it as such. It's those two words - where possible. Which would suggest that where not possible, it may be permissible to park against the flow if a space is available. And here comes room for interpretation. I have never heard of anyone (until now on this thread) getting ticketed for parking against the flow, so obviously most wardens interpret it the same way I did in my previous post - as a guideline for ease of parking. Some wardens interpret it differently (in the case of Junior's above noted experience).

(I don't think I have ever used the words "possible" or "flow" as many times in two paragraphs as I have in this post!:))

puppetmaster

Yeh there is a right toerag in the city that got me when i was off getting the ticket. Since you have ten minutes to get the ticket (used to say that on the back of the old disks) he was in breach of the regs, but he didnt care still slapped me with the ticket. had to go through the appeal. Which was approved.

MEh what can ya do most of them are just doing a job that most ppl hate. But still that fella must hop off Horlicks...

sarah88

Yeah i actually enquired about that 10 minute rule to the city council but they wouldnt give me a straight answer! i was parked up one day and went into the house to get change for a ticket, when i came back out 2 or 3 mins later there was a fine on the car. i went straight over to the council and explained what happpened, the one behind the desk asked me if i had the purchased ticket to include in the appeal, where i had to re-explain that i didn even have time to get a ticket. in the end the appeal was denied.

However i did discover that if you are a quick mover after you get a fine, its very possible to get away with it.
TIP: if you get a fine for no ticket/timed out ticket, where you are either in your car or see it happening, leg it to the nearest ticket machine and buy a ticket, then appeal it saying you were buying a ticket when you were fined, guarantee it will work!

wmpdd3

I think the road junior is talking about is one way, in which case you have to park in the direction of the traffic.

The 10minute rule is in here somewhere:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1966/en/si/0087.html

sarah88

Thanks for the link wmpdd3, couldnt find about the 10 min rule in there, however i did find an interesting part where it defines
the relevant hours "—


(a) on a weekday other than Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.


(b) on a Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ;

Now one of the things i gathered from this was these would be the hours you pay for parking, and as today being thursday and have heard about this before about parking wardans only working untill one on a thursday.....i parked near town after one oclock.....and got a parking fine:( Grounds for appeal??

nkay1985

sarah88 wrote: »

Thanks for the link wmpdd3, couldnt find about the 10 min rule in there, however i did find an interesting part where it defines
the relevant hours "—


(a) on a weekday other than Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.


(b) on a Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ;

Now one of the things i gathered from this was these would be the hours you pay for parking, and as today being thursday and have heard about this before about parking wardans only working untill one on a thursday.....i parked near town after one oclock.....and got a parking fine:( Grounds for appeal??

I'd say the individual local authority has the right to define the applicable parking hours to be honest. Can't really complain when you park and don't/forget to but a ticket and then get fined for it.

sarah88 wrote: »

However i did discover that if you are a quick mover after you get a fine, its very possible to get away with it.
TIP: if you get a fine for no ticket/timed out ticket, where you are either in your car or see it happening, leg it to the nearest ticket machine and buy a ticket, then appeal it saying you were buying a ticket when you were fined, guarantee it will work!

I was thinking this exact thing myself which also led me to think of a nice possible earner for someone. If you were to follow the parking warden around, watch him write a ticket for someone, head to the ticket machine and get a ticket within two or three minutes of the time on the fine, then wait for the owner to come back to the car and present them with the option of buying the parking ticket from you at a cost of say €20 and appealing the fine (which would be successful) instead of paying the fine of €40 or whatever it is. Works out for everyone except the local authority. A nice €19 profit or whatever for you and the person would save themselves €20.

I reckon it would work for a while until they realised what you were up to which could be a good long time if you weren't stupid about it!

Heathen

one thing i find funny is how wardens put parking tickets on cars that are clearly abandoned.. i have seen loads of them with 20 or 30 parking tickets under the wiperblade and the car is covered in sap and dust, obviously sitting there over a year without being moved.. whats the point even putting another ticket on the car? just report it and get it moved!!

Premier

Heathen wrote: »

one thing i find funny is how wardens put parking tickets on cars that are clearly abandoned.. i have seen loads of them with 20 or 30 parking tickets under the wiperblade and the car is covered in sap and dust, obviously sitting there over a year without being moved.. whats the point even putting another ticket on the car? just report it and get it moved!!

So do the fines go to last previous owner?

puppetmaster

satpaul wrote: »

So do the fines go to last previous owner?

Yeh goes to "current" registered owner.

Stokolan

puppetmaster wrote: »

Yeh goes to "current" registered owner.

Who happens to be Mieczyslaw, who flew back to Poland few months ago.

Had a car parked across the road abandoned for a bout 2 months. Thankfully a dodgy looking fella came and removed it after knocking at doors to see if anyone owned it.

snuggles09

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

jonnyfingers

snuggles09 wrote: »

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

Ah Jesus that's bad enough form in fairness.

Chris P. Bacon

snuggles09 wrote: »

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

That's rough alright, I'd go back into them and explain that its 2 bloody minutes and you got it while you were paying a previous one,its worth a try you never know.

JohnC.

How long was it then before you actually got back to the car? Must have been more than 2 minutes if he wasn't still around.

I'm not sure explaining that you got a ticket while paying a previous one would really go in your favour either. They might think it's a habit.

snuggles09

it wasnt my ticket i was paying:( i was paying my other halves that he got a few weeks ago..i've only ever gotten 2 tickets in my life..i got back to the car at about 10.05..was my own fault for not realising i didnt have more time on it..the irony of it all though..thats why i posted it here..lol:D

on a positive note though at least i was after going back to the car and putting the new tax disc in or i might have been done for that as well...ah well..live and learn and all that

haydo333

If you have a residents parking permit and you get a parking fine for that street then don't pay it. It never goes to court, my dad has been doing it for years. He gets threatening letters but never pays. The corpo wouldn't have a leg to stand on in front of the judge as he has a valid residents permit.

Also he had the greatest pleasure in returning a stack of about 30 letters belonging to a tenant of a flat who had recently vacated to the traffic fine office. Your man had never paid any fines in months! Your one's face was priceless hehe!

Chris P. Bacon

haydo333 wrote: »

If you have a residents parking permit and you get a parking fine for that street then don't pay it.

I could be wrong but you cant get a ticket if you have a permit for the street you are parked on.

haydo333

No you shouldn't get a ticket if you have a residents permit but i noticed that a lot of people were getting them if it wasn't properly displayed (according to the warden). It's a common problem for residents to get tickets by accident but are still forced to pay them so just some advice to those who have been affected in this way