problem with a traffic warden in castlebar

overthenest

folks i recently had a run in with a traffic warden in castlebar, i had no change so i went into a shop near where i parked to get change when i can out the warden was writting me a ticket i explained to him i had to get change and was going to get a ticket, he accused me of trying to not pay the ticket and was extremely rude to me and treated me in a disgraceful way he wrote me a ticket and put it on my window i took it off and threw it back at him and drove off, now i have recieved a 150 euro fine for littering?? is there anyway i can challenge this or is their any sort of council ombudsman, i cannot let this go after the way i was treated, its time we stood up to these people.

Legally, you probably dont have a leg to stand on.

oscarBravo

You can challenge it in court - but only if you're prepared to face the consequences (and expense) of losing.

nuac

Very bad idea to throw the ticket at warden. Suggest you now pay the €150 fine. If court summons issues for this judge will not be impressed, and max fine under Section 3 of Litter Pollution Act 1986 is €3,000

finisklin

overthenest wrote: »

folks i recently had a run in with a traffic warden in castlebar, i had no change so i went into a shop near where i parked to get change when i can out the warden was writting me a ticket i explained to him i had to get change and was going to get a ticket, he accused me of trying to not pay the ticket and was extremely rude to me and treated me in a disgraceful way he wrote me a ticket and put it on my window i took it off and threw it back at him and drove off, now i have recieved a 150 euro fine for littering?? is there anyway i can challenge this or is their any sort of council ombudsman, i cannot let this go after the way i was treated, its time we stood up to these people.

Write to the Town Clerk setting out the background as above. Apologise for throwing the ticket at the warden and say that you can't afford to pay the fine. In the light of these circumstances, request that the ticket be forgotten about.

If the town clerk still insists that you pay write to all the town councillors and town clerk again stating the circumstances and your position. Copy this letter to the editor of the Connaught Telegraph, Mayo news, Mayo Advertiser and MWR. In addition, you should state that due to the current austerity measures being introduced house tax, water charges etc that you are not in a position to pay as you can't afford to.

Best of luck and be resolute.

fergusb

Is there not a 15 minute grace period for parking tickets? I remember reading that before somewhere and it was to allow people time to purchase a parking permit or get change without getting a ticket.

Although its probably not much help as the fine is from littering! But if it is the case, the parking warden should not have ticketed you if you only left the car for a matter of minutes.

BostonB

I assume if you send them in the ticket with the receipt it would prove you have bought the ticket just before the warden wrote the parking ticket. But you threw that away.

drunkmonkey

The Gardai should be controlling rouge parking not some bully arse public servant who thinks his a Garda and a very thick ignorant one at that.

Some are find but there's some right assholes dotted around the country, when there taking away Garda stations and cars from officers while still paying malicious little ****s like parking men you know there's something seriously wrong.
Fire all parking men and let the Gardai control the parking on their own turf.

This is a hangover from the Celtic tiger that needs to be abandoned.

oscarBravo

drunkmonkey wrote: »

The Gardai should be controlling rouge parking...

...because our rapidly dwindling police force doesn't have anything better to do.

drunkmonkey

oscarBravo wrote: »

...because our rapidly dwindling police force doesn't have anything better to do.

I think the €150k generated in my town would be better spent on retaining Garda services (like a car, were down to one squad car now as far as I know). It's madness. The only reason we even have a parking man is because of Gardai not parking properly in the first place (and some locals), now there's none left and loads of parking but we still have to put up with one of the most ignorant, malicious public servants i've ever had the misfortune of meeting.
The Gardai used to manage it locally, I don't see why they can't start again. They don't need to do it every where in the country but it should be looked at it on a town by town basis. Did the Gardai lose the power to move or ticket cars?

How do you make an official complaint on a public servant? There's a Garda Ombudsman but where's the one for parking wardens? Complaining at a local and country level isn't working and I have ample evidence and witnesses about this particularly persons conduct when dealing with the public. I've also evidence of malicious conduct and cronyism.

(You can probably guess who i'm on about, you must have crossed his path at some stage)

C-J

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I think the €150k generated in my town would be better spent on retaining Garda services (like a car, were down to one squad car now as far as I know). It's madness. The only reason we even have a parking man is because of Gardai not parking properly in the first place (and some locals), now there's none left and loads of parking but we still have to put up with one of the most ignorant, malicious public servants i've ever had the misfortune of meeting.
The Gardai used to manage it locally, I don't see why they can't start again. They don't need to do it every where in the country but it should be looked at it on a town by town basis. Did the Gardai lose the power to move or ticket cars?

How do you make an official complaint on a public servant? There's a Garda Ombudsman but where's the one for parking wardens? Complaining at a local and country level isn't working and I have ample evidence and witnesses about this particularly persons conduct when dealing with the public. I've also evidence of malicious conduct and cronyism.

(You can probably guess who i'm on about, you must have crossed his path at some stage)

write to alan shatter and martin callinan. Op your complaint would almost certainly have been upheld were it not for you ripping up the ticket, I think you shot yourself in the foot there. If you think the Castlebar ticket warden is ruthless go to Ballina for a day, Mussolinis son if ever I saw it!

overthenest

finisklin wrote: »

Write to the Town Clerk setting out the background as above. Apologise for throwing the ticket at the warden and say that you can't afford to pay the fine. In the light of these circumstances, request that the ticket be forgotten about.

If the town clerk still insists that you pay write to all the town councillors and town clerk again stating the circumstances and your position. Copy this letter to the editor of the Connaught Telegraph, Mayo news, Mayo Advertiser and MWR. In addition, you should state that due to the current austerity measures being introduced house tax, water charges etc that you are not in a position to pay as you can't afford to.

Best of luck and be resolute.

fair play to you and thanks very positive

donalg1

overthenest wrote: »

folks i recently had a run in with a traffic warden in castlebar, i had no change so i went into a shop near where i parked to get change when i can out the warden was writting me a ticket i explained to him i had to get change and was going to get a ticket, he accused me of trying to not pay the ticket and was extremely rude to me and treated me in a disgraceful way he wrote me a ticket and put it on my window i took it off and threw it back at him and drove off, now i have recieved a 150 euro fine for littering?? is there anyway i can challenge this or is their any sort of council ombudsman, i cannot let this go after the way i was treated, its time we stood up to these people.

Driving off wasn't the best idea I mean why would someone park in a space go get a ticket get in their car and drive off? Looks like you drove off cause you were finished doing what you were in town for.

overthenest

donalg1 wrote: »

Driving off wasn't the best idea I mean why would someone park in a space go get a ticket get in their car and drive off? Looks like you drove off cause you were finished doing what you were in town for.

no i had to walk back past my car after getting change to go to the ticket machine and there was yer man giving me a ticket

donalg1

overthenest wrote: »

donalg1 wrote: »

Driving off wasn't the best idea I mean why would someone park in a space go get a ticket get in their car and drive off? Looks like you drove off cause you were finished doing what you were in town for.

no i had to walk back past my car after getting change to go to the ticket machine and there was yer man giving me a ticket

Yeah but would have seemed a little suspicious that you got in your car and drove off despite telling him you had just arrived I mean why would anyone drive to town park the car get change for the parking and then just drive off

the_pits

Where did it happen, maybe they have CCTV covering area

overthenest

donalg1 wrote: »

Yeah but would have seemed a little suspicious that you got in your car and drove off despite telling him you had just arrived I mean why would anyone drive to town park the car get change for the parking and then just drive off

no, i was walking past my car to go get the ticket while coming back from the shop and i seen yer man about to put on the ticket, i tried to explain the situation but his attitude towards me was dispcable and ive never been spoken to in such a degrading manner, this caused me to loose it, throw the ticket back at him and drive off in disgust

Mayo Miss

overthenest wrote: »

no, i was walking past my car to go get the ticket while coming back from the shop and i seen yer man about to put on the ticket, i tried to explain the situation but his attitude towards me was dispcable and ive never been spoken to in such a degrading manner, this caused me to loose it, throw the ticket back at him and drive off in disgust

How did he degrade you? That sounds a little over the top even for a traffic warden, only making his own job harder if that's his carry on.

When you say you drove off after the altercation it makes me think you just pulled in to go to the shop and drove off. If you had just gone into the shop to get change why not say to the warden "Come into the shop and ask the assistant did I come in for change?"

overthenest

donalg1 wrote: »

Yeah but would have seemed a little suspicious that you got in your car and drove off despite telling him you had just arrived I mean why would anyone drive to town park the car get change for the parking and then just drive off

firstly because he had decided without hearing me out that i wasnt going to get a ticket and secondly becuase of the way he treated me, he was very insulting and there was no way i was going to stay there and be treated like that so i drove off to another part of the town where i paid for a ticket using the change i had got, i just couldnt stay there and take that kind of abuse

dollybird2

Firstly it is a shame you reacted so badly in the situation as you may have shot yourself in the foot so to speak with appealing the ticket. If you had accepted the parking ticket and taken it straight to the Council offices you would be in a good position to state your case. Not trying to get at you here btw.

Traffic wardens have a protocol to follow when issuing tickets - car has no p&d therefore gets a fine. Usually when issuing a fine to a car they will have previously logged that car at the time first seen parked without a ticket therefore they will be aware that the grace period given (10 mins I think) has expired. I would check with the offices to see if there was a time logged when he first saw your car. If not then you can impress upon them your point regarding the unfairness of the ticket and that your reaction was due to this.

Regarding the littering fine - you did technically litter by your own admission but due to the circumstances you can fight this. I would put my grievances in writing and send a copy to the traffic division of Mayo Co. Co, a copy to the County Manager and a copy to the councillors. If this went as far as court I wouldn't fancy your chances tbh as it'd be your word against the wardens and generally wardens take a lot of crap.

Best of luck with it, hope you don't think I am being unfair in any of the above, just honest.

nuac

Re Dollybird's poast = Councillors have no role re prosecutions

overthenest

dollybird2 wrote: »

Firstly it is a shame you reacted so badly in the situation as you may have shot yourself in the foot so to speak with appealing the ticket. If you had accepted the parking ticket and taken it straight to the Council offices you would be in a good position to state your case. Not trying to get at you here btw.

Traffic wardens have a protocol to follow when issuing tickets - car has no p&d therefore gets a fine. Usually when issuing a fine to a car they will have previously logged that car at the time first seen parked without a ticket therefore they will be aware that the grace period given (10 mins I think) has expired. I would check with the offices to see if there was a time logged when he first saw your car. If not then you can impress upon them your point regarding the unfairness of the ticket and that your reaction was due to this.

Regarding the littering fine - you did technically litter by your own admission but due to the circumstances you can fight this. I would put my grievances in writing and send a copy to the traffic division of Mayo Co. Co, a copy to the County Manager and a copy to the councillors. If this went as far as court I wouldn't fancy your chances tbh as it'd be your word against the wardens and generally wardens take a lot of crap.

Best of luck with it, hope you don't think I am being unfair in any of the above, just honest.

not at all, thanks for your input and i know it was a bad idea to throw back the ticket at him and drive off but i was just so annoyed at the way he spoke to me, he raised his voice so anyone in the vicinity could hear and just the way he spoke to me was degrading.
i will state my case to the said above, its just not right for these types of people to bully others just because they are in a position of so called authority:mad:

jenno86

Bring him out for a round of golf in Castlebar Golf Club and talk it out.

yop

OP plenty of suggestions now there, best of luck with it.

Going to close this thread now before it ends up have more "non appropriate" posts like the last post.