Garda POS

eringobragh

Macker Eire wrote: »

dont mean to go off topic.. but what is POS?

cheers

Point of sale lol

Seth Brundle

Zube wrote: »

I imagine 99 out of a hundred disabled bay parkers are not disabled, so it's probably simpler just to fine everyone, and the genuine disabled permit holders ring them up and get the fine cancelled.

Able bodied persons are allowed to use disabled spaces (IIRC with a badge) as they may be collecting a disabled passenger. This may be limited to certain local authorities though and as I said IIRC a badge is required.

Eru

T-Maxx wrote: »

Just got notification of my alleged parking in a disabled parking bay.

Driving down Swords main street looking for parking, see one on the right hand side of the road, notice a gap in the oncoming traffic and turn in, then spot the Disabled Parking sign, check the mirror and wait for oncoming traffic to pass (notice the Garda car crawling past), reverse out and off I go.

Engine was never switched off, no-one got in or out.

Garda POS

:mad:

When the car passed you were parked in the spot. Did you even try speaking to the Garda in question before jumping on here and attacking them?

And as someone that knows Swords I can tell you that the disabled bays in the area are constantly being used for people who are just 'parking for a minute' or 'running into Extravision/bank/chipper'.

Fair play too him for taking issue over people abusing disabled spaces.

drunkmonkey wrote: »

There's no cost risk for yourself (represent yourself and have your ducks in a row), took the guards to court twice and won twice, It's amazing how quickly a case gets struck out of court if you turn up with your licence & insurance...

Don't ever be afraid to stand up for yourself when you know you've been wronged!!!!

You didnt win, you were told too produce license and insurance within ten days. You didnt and were therefore summoned to court, once the documents were produced the Garda struck the case out. He could still have gone after you for failing to produce within the ten days but didnt as he was satisfied you had said documents and were above board to drive which was what he wanted to check in the first place.

Again, would you rather they didnt go after in-insured and un-licensed drivers?

Alun

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

When the car passed you were parked in the spot. Did you even try speaking to the Garda in question before jumping on here and attacking them?

And as someone that knows Swords I can tell you that the disabled bays in the area are constantly being used for people who are just 'parking for a minute' or 'running into Extravision/bank/chipper'.

Fair play too him for taking issue over people abusing disabled spaces.

But how on earth could the Garda have established that he was, in fact, abusing a disabled space from briefly looking at the the rear of the car, while driving past it? X-ray vision, perhaps, or psychic powers?

Eru

Alun wrote: »

But how on earth could the Garda have established that he was, in fact, abusing a disabled space from briefly looking at the the rear of the car, while driving past it? X-ray vision, perhaps, or psychic powers?

Well now isnt that a question for the OP perhaps? Fact is he doesnt have a disabled permit so Im guessing were not hearing the whole truth and this is, as I mentioned above, a person who thinks they can use disabled spaces if its only 'running in somewhere for a few minutes'.

Alun

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

.. so Im guessing were not hearing the whole truth

Possibly, possibly not .. pure conjecture in any case.

and this is, as I mentioned above, a person who thinks they can use disabled spaces if its only 'running in somewhere for a few minutes'.

Where did the OP actually say this?

MarkR

Does the date of the notification match your "oops" moment? Any chance you did it on another time?

drunkmonkey

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

You didnt win

I got my 3 year driving ban lifted and my licence wiped clean, I'd call that a result:D

Eru

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I got my 3 year driving ban lifted and my licence wiped clean, I'd call that a result:D

That doesnt make sense.

Either you went to court twice and won twice or you were convicted and banned for 3 years. Which was it?

Moving on, it would take numerous offences to get a 3 year ban. Even when you get 12 penalty points its only a 6 month ban and you can only get a maximum of 6 points per incident. Drink driving is 2 years maximum on 1st offence and even then you can apply after 1 year too have your license back.

So in order to get a 3 year ban lifted and your license cleared it means you have had to have been convicted of more than 1 offence and then appealed the decisions and won them all. But that doesnt explain you previous comment concerning winning two our of two.

I suppose you could have been convicted of driving without insurance and a license then caught driving while disqualified which could, in theory add up to 3 years in total but even then, the second conviction would still apply license or no license as its a court order. Put another way, you didnt produce and got convicted then got caught again. went to appeal and produced documents showing that you had a license and insurance all along but that would only cover the initial offence as the disqualification order would still be lawful when the second offence was commited.

Mind you no matter what the explanation is, you spent at least 2 days in court using holiday leave in addition to whatever amount of time you couldnt drive whereas 1 or possible more Gardai sat in court getting paid for it.


Alun,
Put the two quotes together. Then you can see im making a judgement that the original OP is not being honest concerning their use of said parking space.

Marcus.Aurelius

OP, visit the station and ask to meet the garda in question, he can meet you when he's on duty. Alternatively you can contact the sgt in charge or the superintendent if he's available and state your case to him/her if you cannot get the original garda.

Antics like those Drunkmonkey described are really just immature time-wasting nonsense that prevents some decent people getting a decent service.

ninty9er

Marcus.Aurelius wrote: »

OP, visit the station and ask to meet the garda in question, he can meet you when he's on duty. Alternatively you can contact the sgt in charge or the superintendent if he's available and state your case to him/her if you cannot get the original garda.

Antics like those Drunkmonkey described are really just immature time-wasting nonsense that prevents some decent people getting a decent service.

This is true, but in my case I was advised by the TD I canvass with to use the line "I have no problem going down to a courtroom and making your Garda look like a fool". Well, he did it for me

That's given that I had photographic proof that where I was parked wasn't a bus stop.

April Raine

took the guards to court twice and won twice

fair play

Don't ever be afraid to stand up for yourself when you know you've been wronged!!!!

+1

Wishbone Ash

AudiChris wrote: »

As above - how did they know you weren't a disabled driver, how did they know you were parked there, why did they just automatically issue a fine instead of turning around to stop and question you? Sorry OP, I think there's more to this story...

I'd also say there is more to this story.

OP - are you 'known' to the Gardai?

Marcus.Aurelius wrote: »

OP, visit the station and ask to meet the garda in question, he can meet you when he's on duty. Alternatively you can contact the sgt in charge or the superintendent if he's available and state your case to him/her if you cannot get the original garda

Yes, if the situation is genuine, I'd request to speak to the relevant Garda. If that was unsuccessful, I'd make an appointment to see the Superintendent in charge of the district/division and I'd also put my concerns in writing to the Super with a copy to the Garda.

It's important to be pro-active about it. Waiting for it to go to court is silly.

Marcus.Aurelius wrote: »

Antics like those Drunkmonkey described are really just immature time-wasting nonsense that prevents some decent people getting a decent service.

+1

ninty9er wrote: »

This is true, but in my case I was advised by the TD I canvass with to use the line "I have no problem going down to a courtroom and making your Garda look like a fool". Well, he did it for me

Personally, I don't think that would be particularly helpful.

ninty9er

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Personally, I don't think that would be particularly helpful.

possibly not in this particualr situation, but I had proof the Garda was in fact a fool to ticket someone for being in a bus stop that didn't exist.

drunkmonkey

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

Mind you no matter what the explanation is, you spent at least 2 days in court using holiday leave in addition to whatever amount of time you couldnt drive whereas 1 or possible more Gardai sat in court getting paid for it.

You'll never make detective:D.......I spent about 4 minutes in court (I arrived late).
Requesting a setaside, meeting the peace officer and posting the details to the Garda all took about an hour and it was 7 offences i was contending (even had photos like OP).....I think it took up a lot more garda time than mine...all could have been delt with at the side of the road but the garda felt compelled to make an example out of me.....not!

Wishbone Ash

ninty9er wrote: »

possibly not in this particualr situation, but I had proof the Garda was in fact a fool to ticket someone for being in a bus stop that didn't exist.

I accept that entirely but I'd prefer to get them on-side and wouldn't use the "I've no problem going to court....." or the "fool" bit.

If I thought I was getting nowhere with them, I'd say "Going to court would seriously inconvience me but I appear to be left with no option than to appear and hope that my photographic evidence will be accepted by the District Court Judge".

To say you've no problem going sounds a bit casual. On the other hand, if they think that it would seriously inconvience you, they may realise that you mean business and are not going to make it a waste of your time.

Just my 2c worth.

Wishbone Ash

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I spent about 4 minutes in court (I arrived late)

In fairness, unless you are self employed, most people would probably have set aside a day or at least half a day to appear. The actual time spent 'appearing' isn't that relevant.

-Chris-

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

In fairness, unless you are self employed, most people would probably have set aside a day or at least half a day to appear. The actual time spent 'appearing' isn't that relevant.

+1

I've only "appeared in court" once. It took about 6 seconds.

I missed about 5 hours of work that day...

Compton

peasant wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree.

yes they would, cos they're as$%!!" :mad:

Beta Ray Bill

I would well believe the OP.

I would have a chat with any shop owners that have CCTV close by to the alleged parking spot. I'm sure they will help you out.

As for the POS comment; I well and truly believe the Garda's sole purpose is revenue collection. I dunno if any of you guys live within the Juristiction of Raheny Garda Station but they just do not seem interested in there.

Wishbone Ash

The disabled parking spaces in Swords Main Street are very well marked with a surface sign and one on a signpost. They are also distinctively placed at the start or end of each section of car park spaces.

Parking is difficult to obtain in Swords Main Street but anyone who is familiar with it will know to disregard any vacant spaces at the begining or end of each segment as they are disabled spaces.

Any regular visitor to Swords is unlikely to accidently drive into a disabled space.

Compton

grahambo wrote: »

I would well believe the OP.

I would have a chat with any shop owners that have CCTV close by to the alleged parking spot. I'm sure they will help you out.

As for the POS comment; I well and truly believe the Garda's sole purpose is revenue collection. I dunno if any of you guys live within the Juristiction of Raheny Garda Station but they just do not seem interested in there.

spot on bud, all they can do is sell passports, and give people fines...

no good from them, they're too scared to be on the streets fighting against drugs etc..

unkel

Enough of that crap, shblob. Stay on topic.

-Chris-

grahambo wrote: »

As for the POS comment; I well and truly believe the Garda's sole purpose is revenue collection. I dunno if any of you guys live within the Juristiction of Raheny Garda Station but they just do not seem interested in there.

I find this the most offensive element of this thread. If the OP has a query on how to handle the fine, that's all well and good, but the average Garda is doing a hard job that's to the benefit of the rest of society.

The most effective way to dissuade Joe Public from casually breaking the law is by hitting them in the pocket with on-the-spot fines - freeing up court time and Garda time for more important things.
Gardai neither decide on the laws, nor decide which ones they're allowed to enforce, nor decide on the penalties associated with breaking those laws.

If you get a fine from a Garda, it's not to their benefit, it's to your detriment and if you didn't deserve it you should query it in a rational and respectful fashion.

Focus on the topic, help the OP.

Wishbone Ash

AudiChris wrote: »

If the OP has a query on how to handle the fine....... ......... help the OP.

In the thread title, he/she referred to the Garda as a 'piece of shit' which isn't exactly going to encourage many decent people to help!

bwardrop

AudiChris wrote: »

Gardai neither decide on the laws, nor decide which ones they're allowed to enforce, nor decide on the penalties associated with breaking those laws.

If you get a fine from a Garda, it's not to their benefit, it's to your detriment and if you didn't deserve it you should query it in a rational and respectful fashion.

Well said.

brayblue24

shblob wrote: »

spot on bud, all they can do is sell passports, and give people fines...

no good from them, they're too scared to be on the streets fighting against drugs etc..

What a ridiculous comment....

OP you got caught boo hoo. You will probably get away with it the next 100 times you park there. Like a lot of posters here I feel you have posted a rose tinted version of events that does not divulge the full truth. There is more to this than meets the eye. Care to elaborate?

Marcus.Aurelius

OP, let us know how the situation progresses and if you get the matter resolved amicably.

Wossack

Unfortunately, to the gardai it may appear that you spotted them just after pulling in to the space, and were trying to escape before they stung ya -rather then you being genuinely mistakin, and only realising their presense after they'd gone by.

I'd imagine people getting done for the first scenario above, would come up with your story as an escuse...

-Chris-

Wossack wrote: »

Unfortunately, to the gardai it may appear that you spotted them just after pulling in to the space, and were trying to escape before they stung ya -rather then you being genuinely mistakin, and only realising their presense after they'd gone by.

Do you think any Garda worth their salt would make this assumption from their rear-view-mirror and just issue a fine rather than doing a 180 and checking it out?
I don't think that "it looked to me like..." stands up in court. Gardai have to be able to prove empirically that an offense occurred.
They can't issue you with a fine for "looking like you were driving fast", they need to be able to say what speed you were doing before they can prosecute you.