Clamping on grand canal dock...beware

eddie73

Just a word of warning to anyone parking in this vicinity, particularly on fenian street. Loading bays are not marked as such as they are on the neighbouring streets (sign painted on the ground). Paying for a ticket and displaying it will give you no amnesty. (My appeal failed). When I returned there were 4 cars including my own clamped. It shows how misleading the signage is. It should be more clearly marked and I will be notifying the NRA about this. There is only one legit parking bay on the street and the pay and display notice only applies to this bay and not the street. The car was clamped within 7 minutes. Beware.

magicbastarder

i don't think the NRA will care much for your complaint; they've no responsibility in relation to parking.

eddie73

magicbastarder wrote: »

i don't think the NRA will care much for your complaint; they've no responsibility in relation to parking.

It's worth a shot. Otherwise nothing will be done. It's not Dublin clamping authority btw

Losty Dublin

eddie73 wrote: »

It's worth a shot. Otherwise nothing will be done. It's not Dublin clamping authority btw

If anybody then it would be Dublin City Council, it being their street.

bikeman1

I'm not sure of the issue ?

Most "Loading Bays" are 07:00 - 19:00 in the city. These are for deliveries from commercial vehicles and the loading bay must be kept clear for such use. It is my understanding that they have 30 minutes to load unload.

The loading bays are certainly not there for people to park up, pay parking and block the loading bay for up to 3 hours. We have a bad enough problem with delivery drivers throwing their vehicles anywhere, without them having an excuse that there are cars in the loading bay.

Subject to other signage for that part of the street, you can park there for FREE outside the loading times.

magicbastarder

eddie73 wrote: »

It's worth a shot. Otherwise nothing will be done. It's not Dublin clamping authority btw

The national roads authority have responsibility for national roads. Complaining to them would be like complaining to the Irish wheelchair association about the angelus.

coylemj

eddie73 wrote: »

It's worth a shot. Otherwise nothing will be done. It's not Dublin clamping authority btw

Who else can it be other than the official city clampers - Dublin Street Parking Services (DSPS)? You mentioned Fenian St. so if it's a public street in the city, it can't be Apcoa or NCPS.

I will be notifying the NRA about this

The NRA don't give a XXXX about local authority parking regulations.

HeidiHeidi

The Grand Canal Dock area is controlled by a private company (can't remember which one), not sure how or why but the signs are up.

Fenian St is about half a mile away and is covered by DSPS.

I think the OP may have his areas mixed up.

(ETA did you by any chance mean Forbes St?)

HeidiHeidi

bikeman1 wrote: »

I'm not sure of the issue ?

Most "Loading Bays" are 07:00 - 19:00 in the city. These are for deliveries from commercial vehicles and the loading bay must be kept clear for such use. It is my understanding that they have 30 minutes to load unload.

The loading bays are certainly not there for people to park up, pay parking and block the loading bay for up to 3 hours. We have a bad enough problem with delivery drivers throwing their vehicles anywhere, without them having an excuse that there are cars in the loading bay.

Subject to other signage for that part of the street, you can park there for FREE outside the loading times.

If i understand the OP correctly his issue was that he didnt realise he was in a loading bay as the signage was inadequate (IHO).

eddie73

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

The Grand Canal Dock area is controlled by a private company (can't remember which one), not sure how or why but the signs are up.

Fenian St is about half a mile away and is covered by DSPS.

I think the OP may have his areas mixed up.

(ETA did you by any chance mean Forbes St?)

I meant Hibernian road. Forbes street has the loading bays clearly marked on the ground. When you go onto Hibernian road as I did and see other private vehicles parked there with tickets in the windscreens, you are going to go straight to the metre yourself. Halfway down the street there is a bay with a regulation sign displaying the times allowed to park on it. See attached picture where the car in it has been ticketed in error (courtesy of google maps). Shows how frequent this mistake is made.

eddie73

Here are 2 pics comparing the streets.

Dravokivich

Are those fuzzy signs shown on Street View not there anymore?

Isambard

apcoa signs are they?

eddie73

You have an official nra or Dublin county council parking information sign giving times while at the same time, no official restriction sign. Yes there is restriction info on the private sign, but really should be a lot lot clearer. Loading bay written on the ground would be a good start. No parking sign (official) would be even better. Instead you get a time frame for parking on the street sign without informing you that most of the street is no parking 24/7 for private vehicles.

I wouldn't have bothered writing this thread if I thought other people were not going to get caught the same way. I would estimate that they would do about 5 cars a day there judging I was not the only person clamped. BTW a lorry was also clamped. They obviously thought that after 7pm they were good to park for more than 20 minutes. Seems there is a 20 minute restriction there around the clock.

I don't know how they are getting away with this style of parking regulation. Especially when you look at the street. There are 3 loading bays on the street and there is only one nearby business.
Its not as if it is a busy city centre street. It is a busy street for private parking, so it would seem more and more this is about accumulation of money than helping the Dublin traffic.

K.Flyer

That Grand Canal Dock area is a No-Go Area for me as far as work is concerned unless the customer can guarantee me a private parking space.
The clampers in that area circle the place like vultures because of the difficulty in parking legally and will clamp you in the blink of an eye.
The last time I was there the loading bays were only for 15 mins and I was clamped within 20.

eddie73

As I suspected.

Kfagan10

The National Transport Authority are the clamping regulators, regardless of whether it's in a public or private place.

They have a complaints procedure on their website.

magicbastarder

hibernian road explicitly mentioned here - as being a private street that DCC parking app does not cover you for:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/paid-up-parkers-still-face-clamp-fee-1.1906733

Isambard

Loading bays are for loading not parking or tradesmen .

eddie73

Isambard wrote: »

Loading bays are for loading not parking or tradesmen .

Thanks for the tip isam. We are discussing signage.

Wishbone Ash

Did you have any trouble getting the clamp removed?

The reason I ask is that I was only clamped once ever, and that was about 10 years ago (on the other side of the river) by a company contracted by the DDDA. I parked on a Saturday night on a street which I later found out was 'private'. Fair enough, I accepted my error but what really pissed me off was that the telephone number rang out when I made numerous attempts to try and get unclamped. I ended up having to get a taxi home and then get time off work the following morning to get another taxi in to collect my car. It was an expensive lesson.

When I suggested to the clamper that there were no 'no parking' signs, he pointed out a very small and partly obscured sign which I had missed. I wouldn't normally be a person who describes any charges as a 'money making racket' but in that case I made an exception.

eddie73

No I didn't. The clamper was circling the block all evening. I just waited about 2 minutes and he came around again. I had a conversation with him about my best line of argument re appealing the clamping. He said that the company absolutely never ever pays out for appeals in the area he worked in.

I spoke to a friend of mine by coincidence yesterday who was clamped on a visitor parking area inside an estate in newbridge (by the same company). He was told that he needed to write a note on the windscreen to say that he was a visitor to avoid being clamped. When there is a funeral in newbridge, they have a field day with clamping apparently as they patrol a road beside the church that is their turf.

thereality

It is a private company who is doing the clamping. So they are completely unregulated and there is little or no laws governing them.

If you can remove the clamp without damaging it, they have no recourse

I agree that the signing is extremely poor for a loading bay. Loading bays in Dublin City clearly state loading bay on the ground in front of them

Fattes

eddie73 wrote: »

No I didn't. The clamper was circling the block all evening. I just waited about 2 minutes and he came around again. I had a conversation with him about my best line of argument re appealing the clamping. He said that the company absolutely never ever pays out for appeals in the area he worked in.

I spoke to a friend of mine by coincidence yesterday who was clamped on a visitor parking area inside an estate in newbridge (by the same company). He was told that he needed to write a note on the windscreen to say that he was a visitor to avoid being clamped. When there is a funeral in newbridge, they have a field day with clamping apparently as they patrol a road beside the church that is their turf.

Private clamping company, next time cut the lock and leave the clamp there problem solved

eddie73

I really would love to do this but cameras are everywhere now. Wearing a balaclava in Dublin cutting a lock off a clamp would probably be applauded by most people, but not our judges unfortunately.

magicbastarder

thereality wrote: »

It is a private company who is doing the clamping. So they are completely unregulated and there is little or no laws governing them.

not quite true; though obviously it'd be interesting to see how well enforced this is:

https://www.joe.ie/motors/clamping-rules-ireland-590294