Parking in an estate when you don't live there?

Fittle

I park my car in a housing estate when I go to work - the estate is beside my sons school and the bus stop (I use public transport for work). I always park it between two houses (outside a garden wall - but not outside the same house everytime) and I ensure that I am never obstructing driveways or other traffic. There are others who do the same as me, as I see them in the mornings and evenings, and none of us live on the road.

Last week, I got two notes on my windscreen from a resident, telling me I was parking illegally and that they would get me clamped if I continued to park on their road, when we aren't residents. Two other people got the same note as me.

The road has no yellow lines, and no pay & display section and no 'private parking' signs etc.

I understand that this resident is annoyed that people park their cars on their road when we don't live there (there are no carparks close by for us to park) - but are they correct that I can't park my car there?

si_guru

If it is public road you can park wherever is safe and legal.

aacs

In my view they can collectively force you to stop parking in their locality even if it cause no big problem to them. Since you people are facing problem in the face of no parking lot there, you people should collectively ask your local area representative(MP) to look into the issue with sense of urgency.

Avatargh

aacs wrote: »

In my view they can collectively force you to stop parking in their locality even if it cause no big problem to them. Since you people are facing problem in the face of no parking lot there, you people should collectively ask your local area representative(MP) to look into the issue with sense of urgency.

Post of the year.

Fittle

The estate is right beside my sons school - the school is on a main road with a buslane, so it is the closest parking to the school (I live about 3 miles from the school and there's no public transport from our house to the school). In the mornings, it can be quite chaotic with alot of parents parking there for ten minutes while they run over to the school - but I always ensure I am parked safely and have never blocked anyones drive etc as I'm conscious I'm leaving my car there for the full day.

How could they collectively force me to stop parking on their road, when it is a public road?

Avatargh

Fittle wrote: »

I park my car in a housing estate when I go to work - the estate is beside my sons school and the bus stop (I use public transport for work). I always park it between two houses (outside a garden wall - but not outside the same house everytime) and I ensure that I am never obstructing driveways or other traffic. There are others who do the same as me, as I see them in the mornings and evenings, and none of us live on the road.

Last week, I got two notes on my windscreen from a resident, telling me I was parking illegally and that they would get me clamped if I continued to park on their road, when we aren't residents. Two other people got the same note as me.

The road has no yellow lines, and no pay & display section and no 'private parking' signs etc.

I understand that this resident is annoyed that people park their cars on their road when we don't live there (there are no carparks close by for us to park) - but are they correct that I can't park my car there?

No they are not. They are just cranks. Unless its private land, of course. This happens quite a lot - people just assume they have exclusive parking rights and its absolute utter drivel.

Fittle

Avatargh wrote: »

No they are not. They are just cranks. Unless its private land, of course. This happens quite a lot - people just assume they have exclusive parking rights and its absolute utter drivel.

Ok thanks - there is also a Dart line right beside them, so there are often many cars parked along the road - but the road is quite wide and large enough to easily accomodate two lanes of traffic, even with cars parked on both sides, outside homes.

So I won't come home to find my car clamped on that road any time soon?

swordofislam

How do you know that it is a public road?

McCrack

Fittle wrote: »

Ok thanks - there is also a Dart line right beside them, so there are often many cars parked along the road - but the road is quite wide and large enough to easily accomodate two lanes of traffic, even with cars parked on both sides, outside homes.

So I won't come home to find my car clamped on that road any time soon?

No you wont because nobody has any authority to do that in the situation you describe but you might find a long key scrap down the side of your car.

That can happen.

Fittle

swordofislam wrote: »

How do you know that it is a public road?

Well if you could define what a 'public road' is for me, I can confirm one way or the other thanks.

Fittle

McCrack wrote: »

No you wont because nobody has any authority to do that in the situation you describe but you might find a long key scrap down the side of your car.

That can happen.

Actually that's my main concern after getting the note - the only other area to park in is about a miles walk from the school (it's also a housing estate) but I may just have to relocate there.

No1J

Fittle wrote: »

The estate is right beside my sons school - the school is on a main road with a buslane, so it is the closest parking to the school (I live about 3 miles from the school and there's no public transport from our house to the school). In the mornings, it can be quite chaotic with alot of parents parking there for ten minutes while they run over to the school - but I always ensure I am parked safely and have never blocked anyones drive etc as I'm conscious I'm leaving my car there for the full day.

How could they collectively force me to stop parking on their road, when it is a public road?

Be careful not to get on the wrong side of the locals, you don't want to come back to your car to find a flat tyre or worse.

Fittle

No1J wrote: »

Be careful not to get on the wrong side of the locals, you don't want to come back to your car to find a flat tyre or worse.

I've no intention of doing that. I started parking there just over a year ago - I knocked into an elderly gentleman (I know a relative of his) and asked if he'd mind if I parked outside his house regularly - he was lovely and said he'd be delighted as there were days when he wasn't home and it would look like there was someone in his house if there was a car outside. I would regularly give him a bottle of red (which he told me he loved). Unfortunately, he passed away over the summer...

I'd move the car if it's genuinely annoying the residents but it's certainly not obstructing anyone.

sheils123

I live in an estate beside UCD and we have students park there the whole time. The problem is that they park on both sides of the road which turns the road into a single lane road! This causes so many problems trying to drive in and out especially around rush hour and don't talk to me about bin day...the truck sometimes can't get up the road. Technically they aren't blocking anyones driveway but they are causing chaos! they leave their car there all day so no one else can park who legitimitly have business in the estate...visitors...trade people...etc..bits selfish in my opionion!

Keith in cork

Fittle wrote: »

I'd move the car if it's genuinely annoying the residents but it's certainly not obstructing anyone.

Looks like your moving then

Your well within your rights, but as i'm sure 90% will agree, if i parked outside your house daily, you'd get annoyed. Even if it wasnt ever used, irish are just...eh irish that way.

Fittle

That's not what's happening in my situation however.

As I said above, the road is wide enough to have two lanes of traffic even with cars parked on both sides of the road.

No1J

Fittle wrote: »

I've no intention of doing that. I started parking there just over a year ago - I knocked into an elderly gentleman (I know a relative of his) and asked if he'd mind if I parked outside his house regularly - he was lovely and said he'd be delighted as there were days when he wasn't home and it would look like there was someone in his house if there was a car outside. I would regularly give him a bottle of red (which he told me he loved). Unfortunately, he passed away over the summer...

I'd move the car if it's genuinely annoying the residents but it's certainly not obstructing anyone.

Well if it's not him complaining it must be next door, what do you think?
Anyone else would have to be a bit of a nutter.
You are within your rights to park there as far as I can see but be wary of nutters.

source

Fittle wrote: »

Well if you could define what a 'public road' is for me, I can confirm one way or the other thanks.

It's not so much public road, as public place......legally, there is a difference.......A public road is a road that the local council has control over, and a public place is any road, street, or other place, to which the public have access with a vehicle whether by right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge.

Once your tax and insurance are up to date, you may park legally in any public place in the state and nobody can tell you otherwise. If there are double yellows then you cannot park there, but otherwise unless you're causing an obstruction or parked dangerously, you can park wherever you want.

The person who left the note as another poster said is just a crank, who doesn't know what they're talking about. Re clamping: unless the person goes off and buys a clamp themselves then you've nothing to worry about. If the crank does clamp your car, call the Gardai as they have no right or authority to clamp your car and are committing an offence under Section 113 Road Traffic Act........Interfering with the mechanism of a MPV.

Where I live there's a laneway running down the side of my house. There are no double yellow lines, and a few students from a nearby college park there. It can be inconvenient so I know where the person leaving the notes is coming from, but I also know the law, and would never dream of doing something as rude.

Op if I were you I'd keep parking there, it's convenient for you, and you're doing nothing wrong.

Fittle

No1J wrote: »

Well if it's not him complaining it must be next door, what do you think?
Anyone else would have to be a bit of a nutter.
You are within your rights to park there as far as I can see but be wary of nutters.

I don't park near his house anymore as the new owners do.

I don't know who it is to be honest, as I rarely park outside the same house regularly - it's a pretty long road and when I drive onto it, I just pull-in wherever there is a space.

If I knew who it was, I'd offer him the bottle of red to park outside his house!

No1J

Fittle wrote: »

I don't park near his house anymore as the new owners do.

I don't know who it is to be honest, as I rarely park outside the same house regularly - it's a pretty long road and when I drive onto it, I just pull-in wherever there is a space.

If I knew who it was, I'd offer him the bottle of red to park outside his house!

I like red wine, what part of town are we talking about.:)

sheils123

Fittle wrote: »

That's not what's happening in my situation however.

As I said above, the road is wide enough to have two lanes of traffic even with cars parked on both sides of the road.

Is this a 4 lane road you are parking on?? very unusual for Irish built housing estates to have roads wide enough for 4 cars?? either way you are obviously annoying a few residents!!

Fittle

sheils123 wrote: »

Is this a 4 lane road you are parking on?? very unusual for Irish built housing estates to have roads wide enough for 4 cars?? either way you are obviously annoying a few residents!!

Nope, it's just a very wide road - the estate itself is probably over 60years old (or maybe more) with very large front gardens that didn't have driveways when they were built. It's a lovely estate - I'd love to live there myself in fact;)

sheils123

well if you aren't blocking anyones driveway or causing traffic problems I can't see the problem. Maybe though the person whos house you parked outside doesn't have a driveway so thats why the wrote note...remember the house and park a bit away from it and your car should be fine.

starfish12

My folks were in a somewhat similar situation, they lived on a wide-ish road, with no double yellows.

Non-residents were parking for the day and bussing into town, however as so many cards were parked along either side, at one particular bend, Dublin City council bin trucks couldn't get down the road, so the residents waste wasn't being collected - they left numerous notes and even stopped people in the morning whilst they were parking to explain the situation, to absolutely no avail.

In the end the council painted the entire road with double yellows, if the few cars that were blocking the bend just had the decency not to park there, the rest of the road would have been left alone, stupid really.

Anyway, just be 100% sure that your car isn't blocking anything like that, as that may be the reason for the notes. Of course, they could just be miserable féckers!

Pkiernan

OP: what you are doing is not "illegal", but it is annoying the residents who live there, which is a natural human reaction - we all want our space after all.

In their position, you would feel the same way.

Victor

sheils123 wrote: »

I live in an estate beside UCD and we have students park there the whole time. The problem is that they park on both sides of the road which turns the road into a single lane road! This causes so many problems trying to drive in and out especially around rush hour and don't talk to me about bin day...the truck sometimes can't get up the road. Technically they aren't blocking anyones driveway but they are causing chaos! they leave their car there all day so no one else can park who legitimitly have business in the estate...visitors...trade people...etc..bits selfish in my opionion!

Ask the council for double yellow lines on one side, and if necessary, paid parking on the other. Whatever about the rubbish truck, I'm sure you'll want the fire brigade to have access.

Fittle

I parked somewhere else today. My son was half an hour late for school and I was almost an hour late for work as we hit heavy traffic just after this estate (to get to the place I parked today). So that plan is out the window!!

I'll have to try to find somewhere else to park, perhaps beside the previous bus-stop or train station. The problem is this adds more time onto the journey. As it is, the journey consists of me driving to the school, (I was renting previously, and lived beside this school, otherwise he'd be going to a school much closer to where we now live!) getting the bus to work and walking for half an hour to the office....

I will have a drive around at the weekend and see what I can come up with.

rameire

i had the same problem when parking for work in an estate in leopardstown,
this idiot left a fake parking ticket on my car, with a notice inside.
he also gave verbal abuse, usually from his back garden,
he also confronted me one day and threatened to call the gardai, which i advised him to do so but it would be a waste.
the next day I left a note on my car telling him to F*** off, stop annoying me or i would call the gardai.
the harrasment then stopped.

so, leave a msg under your wiper for the idiot to read.

Gen.Zhukov

I am one of the residents that suffers from this 'park n ride' stuff and I have to admit it gets right on my wick.

This is an avg week.
Mon - Fri 8am - 18.30 Cars parked outside my and others houses.
Wed - Sun evenings various cars parked outside while peeps walk round the corner to the local for drinks. Some leave cars over night and others happily drive the short distances to their homes after the pub.

I've even had people park there for days on end while they go away for a long weekend or more.( Now that's taking the p )

Its not illegal for them to do this (bar the D & D) but its ignorant and downright fng inconsiderate.

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Before someone says 'shop the D & D'ers' I'm not going to do that.

So this may give the people that were saying Cranks,Nutters,Idiots in the prev posts an insight from a res point of view.

McCrack

1.618 wrote: »

I am one of the residents that suffers from this 'park n ride' stuff and I have to admit it gets right on my wick.

This is an avg week.
Mon - Fri 8am - 18.30 Cars parked outside my and others houses.
Wed - Sun evenings various cars parked outside while peeps walk round the corner to the local for drinks. Some leave cars over night and others happily drive the short distances to their homes after the pub.

I've even had people park there for days on end while they go away for a long weekend or more.( Now that's taking the p )

Its not illegal for them to do this (bar the D & D) but its ignorant and downright fng inconsiderate.

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Before someone says 'shop the D & D'ers' I'm not going to do that.

So this may give the people that were saying Cranks,Nutters,Idiots in the prev posts an insight from a res point of view.

That's an inconvenience yes if you want to park your car outside your house on a public road but really it is bad luck if somebody has gotten there before you.

It's a dog eat dog world and if you feel strong enough about it ask your local authority to paint yellows on the road or introduce disk parking.

ANSI

1.618 wrote: »

I am one of the residents that suffers from this 'park n ride' stuff and I have to admit it gets right on my wick.

This is an avg week.
Mon - Fri 8am - 18.30 Cars parked outside my and others houses.
Wed - Sun evenings various cars parked outside while peeps walk round the corner to the local for drinks. Some leave cars over night and others happily drive the short distances to their homes after the pub.

I've even had people park there for days on end while they go away for a long weekend or more.( Now that's taking the p )

Its not illegal for them to do this (bar the D & D) but its ignorant and downright fng inconsiderate.

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Before someone says 'shop the D & D'ers' I'm not going to do that.

So this may give the people that were saying Cranks,Nutters,Idiots in the prev posts an insight from a res point of view.

Is that not causing an obstruction? And OP as a curiosity do you park on road or half on path/road. Not saying you do just curious. Or do yoyu park where you do not block the exits but so close it is is hard for them to turn around you?

Fittle

ANSI wrote: »

Is that not causing an obstruction? And OP as a curiosity do you park on road or half on path/road. Not saying you do just curious. Or do yoyu park where you do not block the exits but so close it is is hard for them to turn around you?

I've said it a few times now.

I park between two houses, outside garden walls, so I don't block either driveway, nor do I block the driveways on the other side of the road. I park on the road, so don't block the pathway whatsoever - as a mother who used to push a buggy when my boy was younger, and as a daughter who used to push her mum in the wheelchair many moons ago, I'm very conscious of obstructions on pathways.

Victor

ANSI wrote: »

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Is that not causing an obstruction?

No. How would it be?

Gen.Zhukov

Victor wrote: »

No. How would it be?

Spot on. It doesn't cause an obstruction. It just means that callers have to park way up the road and walk down to my house. If I know I would like to have a free space outside my house on a certain day I have to leave my car out on the road over night.

@ the OP. You seem to be somewhat considerate in your approach to this (although your main concern in the 1st post was ' can I get clamped' etc)

The way I see it is that if you were to stop parking there someone else will soon take your place and the locals will still be pissed off. I know that if some of the commuters bothered calling in to me and taking the "Hi do you mind......" approach I would possibly take a lighter view on the whole thing.
Their way of thinking now is ' its a public road.. stuff ya'

ANSI

Fittle wrote: »

I've said it a few times now.

I park between two houses, outside garden walls, so I don't block either driveway, nor do I block the driveways on the other side of the road. I park on the road, so don't block the pathway whatsoever - as a mother who used to push a buggy when my boy was younger, and as a daughter who used to push her mum in the wheelchair many moons ago, I'm very conscious of obstructions on pathways.

must have miss:oed it sorry

as a mother who used to push a buggy when my boy was younger, and as a daughter who used to push her mum in the wheelchair many moons ago, I'm very conscious of obstructions on pathways

fair play.

Fittle

1.618 wrote: »

@ the OP. You seem to be somewhat considerate in your approach to this (although your main concern in the 1st post was ' can I get clamped' etc)

The way I see it is that if you were to stop parking there someone else will soon take your place and the locals will still be pissed off. I know that if some of the commuters bothered calling in to me and taking the "Hi do you mind......" approach I would possibly take a lighter view on the whole thing.
Their way of thinking now is ' its a public road.. stuff ya'

And that's what I did with the elderly gentleman when I started parking there.

My situation, in fairness, is not the same as 1.618's situation.

bfocusd

I had a problem like that too,

where I worked the office had limited parking and rented land to make it a car park, as there was over 80 cars to park it got to a point where we had to park on a cul de sac road beside us, within the first 3 months I had 17 @ 15euro each punctures and had to buy 3 new tyres @200 euro a piece.

the residents picked out 4 cars, they knew the 4 of us were interested in cars and our cars cost the most (over 100k together) they broke wipers, punctured wheels, key'd cars, and harrased people, they broke windows and at one point the even parked across the road and trapped us in.

I would try reason with them, and be polite, it could be just one person with a problem and not the entire road, which is what I found where I was parking this elderly woman had a major problem with us being there.

in totall if I recall over the 3 months she caused about 5k worth of damage on our 4 cars. One in particular she put screws under his front wheels and when he drove off the tyres came off and destroyed his alloys on a 6 months old gti golf.

if it does become destructive, park else where and check your car before you leave, in particular screws placed under tyres, so when you drive off they puncture.

Good luck

kravmaga

Fittle wrote: »

I don't park near his house anymore as the new owners do.
If I knew who it was, I'd offer him the bottle of red to park outside his house!

Better be careful as I thought the previous guy passed away when you kept giving him bottles of red,:D

Are ya trying to kill of the neighbourhood so you can park where you like:)

kwalshe

bfocusd wrote: »

I had a problem like that too,

where I worked the office had limited parking and rented land to make it a car park, as there was over 80 cars to park it got to a point where we had to park on a cul de sac road beside us, within the first 3 months I had 17 @ 15euro each punctures and had to buy 3 new tyres @200 euro a piece.


Good luck

So you had approx. 17 punctures etc. etc. and you just kept parking there?
Seriously?

Avatargh

1.618 wrote: »

I am one of the residents that suffers from this 'park n ride' stuff and I have to admit it gets right on my wick.

This is an avg week.
Mon - Fri 8am - 18.30 Cars parked outside my and others houses.
Wed - Sun evenings various cars parked outside while peeps walk round the corner to the local for drinks. Some leave cars over night and others happily drive the short distances to their homes after the pub.

I've even had people park there for days on end while they go away for a long weekend or more.( Now that's taking the p )

Its not illegal for them to do this (bar the D & D) but its ignorant and downright fng inconsiderate.

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Before someone says 'shop the D & D'ers' I'm not going to do that.

So this may give the people that were saying Cranks,Nutters,Idiots in the prev posts an insight from a res point of view.

So what? On what basis can you expect priority? You call it "ignornant"? What do you mean? What are these people ignorant of? Why is it inconsiderate? What consideration should they have in mind?

In any event, why don't you just exercise (with your neighbours) your rights and lobby to have the area turned to disc parking? If you all cared enough, I'm surprised this isn't something you've considered (if you haven't). I'm far from sure, but I think there is a even a process for this once you have a particular percentage of the area on board.

Grolschevik

1.618 wrote: »

if you were to stop parking there someone else will soon take your place and the locals will still be pissed off.

This is true.

Gen.Zhukov

Avatargh wrote: »

So what? On what basis can you expect priority? You call it "ignornant"? What do you mean? What are these people ignorant of? Why is it inconsiderate? What consideration should they have in mind?

In any event, why don't you just exercise (with your neighbours) your rights and lobby to have the area turned to disc parking? If you all cared enough, I'm surprised this isn't something you've considered (if you haven't). I'm far from sure, but I think there is a even a process for this once you have a particular percentage of the area on board.

I could explain it down to a micro level for you but if you don't get it by now, you never will. Suffice to say, here is a timely example to try to help you understand.
Lady next door has been ill for a while now. Today she had a visit from a friend. The little old dear visiting had to park about 200 mtrs from the house and shuffled down the road with her flowers in monsoon conditions.
Why ? Because the commuters wanted somewhere nice and handy to park up while they nipped over to the bus stop.

Does it bug me-yes
Do I lose sleep over it-no
Do I want to start a crusade to get it stopped-couldn't be arsed.
Will I damage peoples cars-no
Do I empathize with the OP-yes
Edit: Would I park outside someones house all the time-no


I am guessing that you are not in a similar situation. There is more to people/life than one finds in a pile of legal books.

bfocusd

kwalshe wrote: »

bfocusd wrote: »

I had a problem like that too,

where I worked the office had limited parking and rented land to make it a car park, as there was over 80 cars to park it got to a point where we had to park on a cul de sac road beside us, within the first 3 months I had 17 @ 15euro each punctures and had to buy 3 new tyres @200 euro a piece.


Good luck

So you had approx. 17 punctures etc. etc. and you just kept parking there?
Seriously?

Yep, im totally serious, there was no where else to park, I had to go to work and if I was to take public transport it was 3 busses and id have to leave at half 5! I tried that for a while, but it was impossible cause I wasnt getting home till 9pm.

What else was were we supposed to do? Its near the south circular road and parking is very limited in that area as it is. I had punctures only, other cars were more damaged and they also still had to park their, there was no way around it.

also I stopped parking there when we all realised what was happening, the wheels werent punctured while parked there, but screws were left under so when we moved it punctured and took a few mins to deflate.. So by the time I noticed it id be away.. Sometimes I only noticed it when I got home that a wheel was low.

Carawaystick

1.618 wrote: »

I am one of the residents that suffers from this 'park n ride' stuff and I have to admit it gets right on my wick.

This is an avg week.
Mon - Fri 8am - 18.30 Cars parked outside my and others houses.
Wed - Sun evenings various cars parked outside while peeps walk round the corner to the local for drinks. Some leave cars over night and others happily drive the short distances to their homes after the pub.

I've even had people park there for days on end while they go away for a long weekend or more.( Now that's taking the p )

Its not illegal for them to do this (bar the D & D) but its ignorant and downright fng inconsiderate.

If friends call or there is a delivery or something, they have to park a long way from my gaff.

Before someone says 'shop the D & D'ers' I'm not going to do that.

So this may give the people that were saying Cranks,Nutters,Idiots in the prev posts an insight from a res point of view.

Why not park your car on the street and leave your of street for visitors?

ANSI

They must be large esates if all that parking does not block some access. The spaces betweeen houses must be considerable

FueledByAisling

Park in their driveway.

MagicSean

As long as you don't cause an obstruction then there shouldn't be a problem. If you are having trouble with your car being damaged I suggest you get a dash camera and leave it running during the day. That way if anyone damages your car they are likely to be caught on camera.

Gen.Zhukov

Carawaystick wrote: »

Why not park your car on the street and leave your of street for visitors?

I said that in post #34 but really why should I have to do this ? It's putting my car at a higher risk from damage/theft/vandalism etc.

ANSI wrote: »

They must be large esates if all that parking does not block some access. The spaces betweeen houses must be considerable

On my road, it's possible to get 2 large cars parked between the driveway access ramps without obstructing the actual drives.

ANSI

1.618 wrote: »

Spot on. It doesn't cause an obstruction. It just means that callers have to park way up the road and walk down to my house. If I know I would like to have a free space outside my house on a certain day I have to leave my car out on the road over night.

@ the OP. You seem to be somewhat considerate in your approach to this (although your main concern in the 1st post was ' can I get clamped' etc)

The way I see it is that if you were to stop parking there someone else will soon take your place and the locals will still be pissed off. I know that if some of the commuters bothered calling in to me and taking the "Hi do you mind......" approach I would possibly take a lighter view on the whole thing.
Their way of thinking now is ' its a public road.. stuff ya'

But you said they do not obstruct the entrance , can you not park outside your entrance

madamab

Hi I have 2 issues here

The first I parked on a public road part of an estate in South County Dublin for a few days. I was told I could because the road is belonging to the council. I could not park in the private estate beside because I had no space. There were a long line of cars parked alongside a green area - yes in front of houses but with enough distance for a truck to fit between. The estate was built over 30 years ago and consists of private houses with a public road. The road runs through to St John of Gods and people will also park here for the reason of going to visit in there or other reasons. There is also a school or schools nearby and there it is on the a very handy bus route. Anyway I parked here for a few days only - it was never going to be permanent and I had 2 notes - One under one windscreen stating I couldnt park there as it was a private estate. And second was I was parked in front of a white line and the gardai have been informed. so I checked the road and there is remnants of some kind of white line and it probably is or was continuous but it is missing so many bits and is so worn I would have to wait till the morning to have a good look.

So not knowing about this stuff and was a bit intimidated and shocked by the tone of the letters. I spoke to my friend who assured me it is indeed a public road in the estate and the residents in this estate have always been diffcult from the time the new estate was proposed - in fact they had to be paid off ( this was in the paper) but they still have major grudges against the new development. I rang the gardai and a garda answered the phone" Hello Garda can I ask you a qustion"? Yes what is it says the Garda. I told him about the notes and he said "is there a continuous white line?" I said Im really not sure cos it is so worn and patchy " Listen here - you are just making excuses" says the garda in a really angry voice, " I beg your pardon" I say - I am calling you to ask you what is the situation and what I can do. There is a whole line of cars parked there at any given time and I parked there as a once off for a few of these" "And did you get a ticket"? asks the Garda "No I dont think so" say I. Well he says - Ill be up there Mon Tue and Wed and you and anyone else there will be getting a ticket - Ok? goodbye and he hung up.

I was absolutely gobsmacked that somebody from the Garda could speak to me like this and I rang back and got a Bean Garda - I explained to her what had happened and she was nice and apologetic but couldnt give me the name of the Garda or the Sargeant and was really stuttery and I got the impression she did indeed know as it had only been 5 minutes since I called.

I think people who havent got their drives or roads obstructed and compalin or type up notes such as this are really sad!! They obviously have nothing else in their lives. All they do is sit at their windows and complain - I just dont know what the world is coming to. But I can tell you this - I am not letting this Garda thing go and will be making a complaint. And I am not happy with people putting notes on my windscreen - it is illegal for advertising material to be put on windscreens and so I dont see why the public can get away with it.