Clamped because the parking meter was out of order - what to do?

netman

I got clamped yesterday but under extremely annoying circumstances.

I parked the car and went down to the parking machine to get a ticket, but it was out of order. Then I went back to the car, wrote a note saying "Couldnt get a ticket - parking meter out of order" and left it on the dashboard.

When I got back the car was clamped, I rang the number they left and couldn't reason with them, the only way they'd remove it is if I paid the 80 euro.

They also told me that I should have found another parking meter and got a ticket there, and I explained to them that I have better things to do than walk around Dublin looking for a working parking meter. The discussion ended soon after, with a huge difference of opinion

As I don't need the car today, I figured I'd ask here if anyone has any suggestions. They said I have to pay the fine and then I can appeal it if I want to. Is that the only way?

kluivert

Thats a good one but i would be of the opinion that if i went to one that was broken to go find another one that was working regardless of the walk. Parking in Dublin is very expensive 2e an hour i think.

Dundalk is getting just as bad with 1e an hour. It was really cheap before where a 1e would get you at least a hour and a half.

But i think you just had a bad day yesterday and got royally stuffed by these guys.

egan007

Check it out - may dublincity.ie has the answer
But im sure there is a minimum distance a working parking meter has to be away from the parking space.

Einstein

I appealed my clamp aswell. The signs on the road said pay parking was till 12, the meter worked till 7. there were other meters around but I wasn't gonna go look for one either. I payed the €80 then wrote a letter to the address that they gave me, stating my case. Got a cheque in the post about 6 weeks later for the money.

So definitly appeal it.

unkel

netman wrote:

They also told me that I should have found another parking meter and got a ticket there

Yes you should have provided one was near you. You could appeal it but if it turns out a meter was indeed near the one that was broken, you don't stand a chance

Traffic

You should of went and found a working meter

Plenty of them on the streets, wldnt of taken you long to find another one

egan007

Traffic wrote:

You should of went and found a working meter

Plenty of them on the streets, wldnt of taken you long to find another one

Stupid statement - I park in one area where there is only one parking meter and it's a 7 minute walk to it from the furthest parking space
So it may take a very long time to find another considering there is none.
Luckily i know that but if i did not i could be a while walking around in circles

Nuttzz

egan007 wrote:

Stupid statement - I park in one area where there is only one parking meter and it's a 7 minute walk to it from the furthest parking space
So it may take a very long time to find another considering there is none.
Luckily i know that but if i did not i could be a while walking around in circles

I went off looking for a working meter and they were putting the shoe on as I was comming back to put the ticket in the window.

OP appeal by all means, make sure you have the dates times and locations

unkel

egan007 wrote:

it may take a very long time to find another considering there is none

If there is no other meter nearby, I'm sure you could succesfully appeal!

Read in the paper a few weeks ago that about half of the appeals are won

Jumpy

Nuttzz wrote:

I went off looking for a working meter and they were putting the shoe on as I was comming back to put the ticket in the window.

OP appeal by all means, make sure you have the dates times and locations

THey didnt continue did they?

lomb

they want money and its understandable, the motorist is a good cash cow to beat about the head. in fairness i reakon the road to park on probably does cost more than 1 euro an hour to 'rent' in prime areas of dublin where property prices are 1000 euro a square foot to buy. that means about 50 euro a sq foot a year to rent, so a car being 100 sq foot + means 5000 a year which means that their parking charges are reasonable! of course we do own the roads so why should we pay for them

impr0v

Appeal, it's not your responsibility to roam the streets looking for a working machine. I was under the impression that a broken machine automatically meant immunity from clamping for the cars within that machine's catchment, and have often left my car with no ticket in a clamper infested area while availing of this immunity. Seems nothing is sacred anymore.

Petal

I think, when you pay for your ticket. It says something on the back about if the machine is out of order you have to go to the nearest machine that is working. Check it out next time..

ando

kluivert wrote:

Parking in Dublin is very expensive 2e an hour i think.

its not unusual to see 2.50 an hour in city centre areas. I was amazed how cheap it is outside the capital. 60cent an hour in Kells.. I was in shock

Victor

Appeal, see what happens. (that was painful for me )

As I don't need the car today, I figured I'd ask here if anyone has any suggestions. They said I have to pay the fine and then I can appeal it if I want to. Is that the only way?

Yes thats the only way.

impr0v wrote:

Appeal, it's not your responsibility to roam the streets looking for a working machine.

It is your responsibility to go to at least the next street.

I was under the impression that a broken machine automatically meant immunity from clamping for the cars within that machine's catchment

Then every gurrier would have an incentive to damage machines, wouldn't they?

Seth Brundle

Victor wrote:

Appeal, see what happens. (that was painful for me )

WOW - Victor did something wrong!

Victor wrote:

It is your responsibility to go to at least the next street.

Is it just to the next street? i.e. is there a minimum distance to travel before you can find a machine?
What happens if the nearest machine is in a different parking (and also cheaper) zone? As the incorrect hourly fee was not paid, could you be clamped?

Victor

The expectation is if a machine is out of action that you go to the next nearest machine in the same zone. Reasonable behavior is likely to be accepted.

If several machines are out of order you are probably going to be believed. But you should really be phoning them at that stage to tell them.

cormie

But what happens if the ticket says a different street name on it? I think it's ridiculous they expect you to pay if the machine is out of order. If you get a tray of food in a restaurant chain and you go to the till to pay and it just so happens they can't take payment, they can't expect you to go find another one of their franchises to pay there. Instead of letting the food go to waste they should have the kindness to let you eat for free:D Or else close the restaurant for the day... but what would be the point of closing parking spaces for a day? Greed!

Victor

Well it more like self service than a restuarant.

PhoenixRising

I would definitely appeal it. That's ridiculous.

Unless there is another parking meter in sight from the one that's out of order, I wouldn't go wandering around the streets looking for another one. That's completely unreasonable to expect people to do that. We pay extortionist prices for parking anyway, we shouldn't have to go and find another meter on some other street when a meter is out of order for the privelage of paying €2/hour to leave your car on the street.

I was in a similar situation a few weeks ago where I parked in an area where the meter was out of order. There wasn't a second meter in sight from where I parked, nor from the broken meter itself. So I whipped out my phone and took a picture of the parking meter display where it say's 'out of order', just in case the feckers fixed it while I was away and proceed to stick a clamp on my car.

Definitely appeal it.

Victor

Oh, when you buy at an expensive zone, those tickets are valid in cheaper zones.

impr0v

Victor wrote:

Then every gurrier would have an incentive to damage machines, wouldn't they?

As part of a course I did a few years ago i attended a talk by the then director of the DTO who told an anecdote about someone who repeatedly rendered the machine in a particular street inoperable by feeding it matchsticks, in order to avail of free parking. He did, up until they trained one of the traffic cameras on the machine for a day and caught him vandalising it.

Traffic

Netman, what street did it happen on? and roughly what is the location on the street of the broken machine?

Seth Brundle

Victor wrote:

Oh, when you buy at an expensive zone, those tickets are valid in cheaper zones.

I know, but lets say that the machine in the expensive zone (where your car is parked) was out of order and the only other one nearby was a cheaper zone. Is your car parked legally if you use a ticket from a cheaper zone?

em

There are rules for clamping right? One of them, I guess, is to clamp only people who DIDN'T display a valid pay-and-display ticket, I presume!

Now what if after sticking 7,30 euros in a pay-and-display machine expecting to have near 3 hours of parking, the display machine spit a mere 5 minutes ticket? Is it a valid ticket? I guess so...

As you realized the machine is broken, you would expected the same understanding from those in charge of READ the ticket displayed in your car! But no! There's a lot of information in the ticket, but seems that they are not able to interpret them properly! It's clearly stated in the ticket the time the ticket was issued, the amount of money paid, and the expiry date. It's evident that 7,30 euros gives more than 5 minutes, but no, as the expiry date, which is written in BOLD AND CAPITALS LETTERS is the only information they can see, they clamped me!

And when you call them to have you clamp removed, expecting some comprehension for the situation, they say "I understand you sir, but the rule is: once you're clamped, you have to pay the 80 euros removal fee."

So, this is NOT my fault the machine display was not working. This is NOT my fault the person in duty didn't do his work well, and I was told that THE RULES ARE bla bla bla? I would say THE RULE IS TO CLAMP THOSE WHO DON'T PAY-AND-DISPLAY!

After paying 80 euros, waiting almost 1 hour for the removal, get late in an appointment... I still have to write to somewhere to claim my money back!!! I don't think this is right at all! :mad: :mad: :mad:

MercMad

It IS right and its totally fair IMO !

You loked for the handy way out of paying for parking !

People may ASSUME that if the machine doesn't work you can park for free...............YOU CANT !!

You need to get another ticket from another machine, no matter how far away it is, and ensure it is valid for your area !

If you dont do do this, or you cant find a suitable ticket machine..............dont park there !!

It simple !!

However I accept that the clampers want there money first and you WILL and SHOULD have to pay it !

By all mean appeal the case but realise that the clamping folk dont give a toss, no money no release no matter whose fault it is. the barrier placed there is deliberate. If they give these guys the authority to decide imunity then things would be worse !

Wishbone Ash

ando wrote:

its not unusual to see 2.50 an hour in city centre areas. I was amazed how cheap it is outside the capital. 60cent an hour in Kells.. I was in shock

I think the system in Dublin is fairer though. You can put in 20c and park for 5 minutes or whatever 20c will get you. In many provincial towns you have to pay for an hour (usually 50c or €1) even if you are only going to be 5 minutes. Ripoff!

em

em wrote:

Now what if after sticking 7,30 euros in a pay-and-display machine expecting to have near 3 hours of parking, the display machine spit a mere 5 minutes ticket? Is it a valid ticket? I guess so...

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear enough, mate... I PAID €7,30 and the machine put out a ticket for only 5 minutes! Do you mean I shoud pay another €7,30 because the machine was broken? Or should the clamp guy read the entire ticket and not only the expiry time?

_Kaiser_

It's not the OP's fault the machine isn't working. It's up to Dublin City Council (I assume?) to ensure they're working, not expect the public to go hunting for another one. If one is out of order then I'm sure the clampers themselves will quickly become aware of it and can call it in as a fault.

It's like Dublin Bus.. if the card reader doesn't work, should you go validate it on another bus? No, you show it to the driver and he waves you on... One of the few examples of cop-on and common sense winning over blindly following Rules I might add.

Same story here.. Appeal it.

Wishbone Ash

Kaiser2000 wrote:

It's not the OP's fault the machine isn't working. It's up to Dublin City Council (I assume?) to ensure they're working, not expect the public to go hunting for another one. If one is out of order then I'm sure the clampers themselves will quickly become aware of it and can call it in as a fault.

www.dublincitycouncil.ie

Information on Parking Meters #37138
If a Pay & Display machine is out of order, motorists must go to another machine in the same tariff zone or a higher tariff zone to pay the appropriate fee and prevent your vehicle from being clamped.

If this is not possible or there are no machines working in the area please telephone the Parking Enforcement Section on 01 222 2218 from the Pay & Display Machine (this number is displayed on the Pay & Display machine).

If you are paying by mobile phone and are experiencing difficulties, please contact MPark on 1890 882 600.

em

... and what if after you've paid, the ticket is spit out with wrong numbers printed? That was my case! I certainly will claim it back, but don't think this is rigth, though!

It was an annoying and constraining situation, I was stuck for almost one hour, got late in a friend's meeting, had to dispose 80 euros of my money, and all of this because someone is not doing its work well, and/or the rules are non-sense, and/or they are narrow-minded, and/or what-ever-it-was, but certainly it was not my fault, but I had to get all the burocratic procedures of claiming my money back, all the annoying and constraint!:(

This is really not fair!:mad: