Another donation to the Garda

TripleAce

Ok, a bit of background: I am a very generous person, especially towards the Garda. This is shown by regularly getting fined. My major strenght is leaving the car parked where I am not supposed to. Double yellow lines, Taxi ranks, loading bays, leaving it 15 extra minutes in the pay parking and getting clamped, you name it…….I also got some speeding tickets and a recent fine for skipping the toll and the M50 in Dublin, but these are not really regular occurrence. I always acknowledge my mistakes and pay the fine. The last one even got to me late (changed address) and also paid 20€ on top for paying 3 days later. I democraticaly spread the wealth across the country: got clamped in Galway, Dublin and Limerick…..next time I am down to Cork I will make sure they will have their fair share.

Now the last I got was yesterday: for parking the car in the Taxi Rank at the end of Cecil Street (close to the Sin Bin). Now, I have been parking the car there every night for the last 4 months, with exception of Fridays and Saturdays as I am usually in Galway at weekends to visit my other half. And with me, every single night another 7-8 cars (or how many they can fit) park there. This is no excuse, I know, the sign “Taxi Rank” is visible and in theory a car parked there overnight should be fined. The day of the fine was dated 17-Jan at 23:00 PM (the only Saturday I was in Limerick). Now my question is: have you EVER seen a Taxi there? I know during the week there is none, because sometimes I get home late and I park the car there and there are no taxis. Do Taxi drivers use that Taxi rank at weekends?

A big well done to the Garda and their ability to make sure cars parked illegaly always get caught and fined. I can imagine this is a top priority to them in their fight against crime and a great way to ensure income during recession.

son.of.jimi

Hmm doesn't really make a difference, you were in the wrong and you want to complain?

Taxi Rank is a Taxi Rank so unless you are a taxi you shouldn't be there.

As having a pop at the gardai? It's their job to uphold the law and i'm pretty sure they were just on patrol and came across your car and you were caught.

You just seem to be an inconsiderate driver by the amount of fines you've built up and paid, Fair play to you for paying them but If you were more patient you wouldn't have to pay them!

DubArk

Should you not be thanking the traffic wardens??

I didn’t think the Garda ever bothered with parking fines these days as their to busy catching inconsiderate drivers like you who consistently speed on our roads trying to get themselves killed and take one of us with them.:rolleyes:

Ta for the extra revenue....... every cent counts these days.:D

Ardscoil Ris

TripleAce wrote: »

Ok, a bit of background: I am a very generous person, especially towards the Garda. This is shown by regularly getting fined. My major strenght is leaving the car parked where I am not supposed to. Double yellow lines, Taxi ranks, loading bays, leaving it 15 extra minutes in the pay parking and getting clamped, you name it…….I also got some speeding tickets and a recent fine for skipping the toll and the M50 in Dublin, but these are not really regular occurrence. I always acknowledge my mistakes and pay the fine. The last one even got to me late (changed address) and also paid 20€ on top for paying 3 days later. I democraticaly spread the wealth across the country: got clamped in Galway, Dublin and Limerick…..next time I am down to Cork I will make sure they will have their fair share.

Now the last I got was yesterday: for parking the car in the Taxi Rank at the end of Cecil Street (close to the Sin Bin). Now, I have been parking the car there every night for the last 4 months, with exception of Fridays and Saturdays as I am usually in Galway at weekends to visit my other half. And with me, every single night another 7-8 cars (or how many they can fit) park there. This is no excuse, I know, the sign “Taxi Rank” is visible and in theory a car parked there overnight should be fined. The day of the fine was dated 17-Jan at 23:00 PM (the only Saturday I was in Limerick). Now my question is: have you EVER seen a Taxi there? I know during the week there is none, because sometimes I get home late and I park the car there and there are no taxis. Do Taxi drivers use that Taxi rank at weekends?

A big well done to the Garda and their ability to make sure cars parked illegaly always get caught and fined. I can imagine this is a top priority to them in their fight against crime and a great way to ensure income during recession.

No I haven't see a taxi there. I hope you get the chair.

topper75

Poor place to put a rank. Can't be much business for cabbies in that part of town. Should change it back to regular parking Sun-Fri at least.

Hagar

DubArk wrote: »

Should you not be thanking the traffic wardens??

I didn’t think the Garda ever bothered with parking fines these days as their to busy catching inconsiderate drivers like you who consistently speed on our roads trying to get themselves killed and take one of us with them.:rolleyes:

Ta for the extra revenue....... every cent counts these days.:D

Traffic Wardens at 11:00pm?
It's much easier to catch speeders when they are parked.

Berty

I belive the question was:

Have we ever seen a taxi using this taxi rank?

If you refer to upper cecil street, nowhere near the Sinbin, then yes all the time.

I am not aware of a taxi rank near the sin bin other than the one next to Dunnes Stores which they do not use except for one taxi driver when he was doing his shopping.

BTW Its the traffic corps that ticket as well as the parking wardens. So its not their job to be out catching criminals and saving puppies from drains its their job to control the flow of traffic, speeding, DUI etc etc

MarkR

Maybe there wasn't anyone getting murdered at the time. Not like he was double jobbing. And you were around the corner from the station! Might as well have double parked outside a doughnut shop (I know - no donught shops in Limerick, but it's not funny if it's anything else)

It's not your personal parking space, and even if a dozen do it every week, you were wrong the the guard was right to ticket you.

Keep on supporting Biffo *high five*

TripleAce

Thank to the ones who answered my questions. I am referring to Lower Cecil Street, down where Rabo Bank is now, close to the Sin Bin.
The letter I got is from Garda.

As for the others, I only got fined for speeding once and I am a very responsible driver. No accidents in 13 years driving and touch wood! I don't think parking a car illegaly is a major crime, so calm down with wishing people bad happenings. I also said that I had no excuse for parking there as the Taxi Rank is visible.

anoble66

at the rate you get fined you would be better buying a cheap commerical jeep, you can then park in any loading bay without them able to fine you....t'is great!

Ardscoil Ris

People think illegal parking is a victimless crime, it's not. Thoughtless motorists can block off dropped kerbs designed to allow wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs to help them on and off pavements safely.

I've see people blocking buses. I have seen people parking just outside the Bank and blocking the view of people trying to turn left.

People who constantly illegally park should have points on their license.

Liam Byrne

TripleAce wrote: »

I only got fined for speeding once and I am a very responsible driver.

Excuse me ?

TripleAce wrote: »

This is shown by regularly getting fined. My major strenght is leaving the car parked where I am not supposed to. Double yellow lines, Taxi ranks, loading bays, leaving it 15 extra minutes in the pay parking and getting clamped, you name it

Doesn't sound very responsible to me.......I'd reckon we've nearly all had the odd bit of inconsideration or misjudgement or taking a chance, but you said yourself - "regularly".

"Driving" includes parking. You can't say that you're a "safe" motorway driver if - when you're finished getting to a location - you leave the car "parked" in the fast lane of a motorway.

There are the odd exceptions, but in most cases double-yellow lines and things are there for a reason, usually for the safety of pedestrians or to keep traffic flowing.

I note that you didn't say "disabled parking bay", so I suppose that's something to be thankful for.

TripleAce wrote: »

I don't think parking a car illegaly is a major crime

Maybe not "major", but at least you've acknowledged it's a crime.

And it would BECOME major if some pedestrian got a clatter of a truck because they couldn't be seen due to your parking illegally.

But thankfully there's a very easy answer to your "problem" : stop leaving the car where you're not supposed to.

Wetbench4

anoble66 wrote: »

at the rate you get fined you would be better buying a cheap commerical jeep, you can then park in any loading bay without them able to fine you....t'is great!

Or just go buy a taxi plate and you'll have loads of free parking in all the best spots in the country. Might even work out cheaper than all those fines you pay.

TripleAce

Ardscoil Ris wrote: »

People think illegal parking is a victimless crime, it's not. Thoughtless motorists can block off dropped kerbs designed to allow wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs to help them on and off pavements safely.

I've see people blocking buses. I have seen people parking just outside the Bank and blocking the view of people trying to turn left.

People you constantly illegally park should have points on their license.

I never blocked anyone, I never parked on wheelchair space,etc. However I got blocked several time by idiots who parked their car 2 cm from mine on each side.

I feel it is way more dangerous and they should start giving fines to drivers who drive down from Galway to Limerick at 60km/hour all the way during rush hour - they cause frustration and possible accidents. I usually stand back as my life is worth more than 30 minutes delay, but overall I can understand how frustrating is to have some idiot going at that speed and don't letting anyone overtake. However, they never get fined.

They should think about how dangerous those roads are, the road between the 3rd and 4th city in the country is just a killer, driving at night is suicidal because of the lack of light....and just pray God that it doesn't start raining or you gamble with your life. Surely those are priorities that should be looked into (certainly I am helping by funding them).

And what about surveilling the city at night? In the very same road (Cecil Street) I got my car banged 4 times since last year, both sides, wipers taken off (front and back), side window broken into and radio stolen....gangs of drunken teenagers jumping on cars after the club on Friday night. And who is checking them out? This happens straight in the city centre at weekends, and nobody does f*** nothing about it. But you can be damn sure that if you park a car along the double yellow lines along the keys where nobody even notice it, you get fined!

TripleAce

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Excuse me ?



Doesn't sound very responsible to me.......I'd reckon we've nearly all had the odd bit of inconsideration or misjudgement or taking a chance, but you said yourself - "regularly".

"Driving" includes parking. You can't say that you're a "safe" motorway driver if - when you're finished getting to a location - you leave the car "parked" in the fast lane of a motorway.

There are the odd exceptions, but in most cases double-yellow lines and things are there for a reason, usually for the safety of pedestrians or to keep traffic flowing.

I note that you didn't say "disabled parking bay", so I suppose that's something to be thankful for.

Maybe not "major", but at least you've acknowledged it's a crime.

And it would BECOME major if some pedestrian got a clatter of a truck because they couldn't be seen due to your parking illegally.

But thankfully there's a very easy answer to your "problem" : stop leaving the car where you're not supposed to.

Let's be realistic for a minute. Did you ever drive 10/15km/hour over the limit? Because that's all you need to get fined at the end of the day....so if you never got fined for speeding you just got lucky. As for the parking I already explained everything so I won't repeat, and don't come up with examples (ie. motorway, wheelchair place, etc) that you made up yourself.

Berty

Ardscoil Ris

TestTransmission

The standard of the threads in the Limerick City forum really are going down hill :P:P

Ardscoil Ris

jackncoke wrote: »

The standard of the threads in the Limerick City forum really are going down hill :P:P

Did it coincide with my decision to start posting here? :P

Need to brighten up the forum after all. Don't want to be seen as the doom and gloom forum.

Anyway it had gone off topic was going to descend into an argument.

Berty

Sometimes you have to put a little humour into the forums otherwise people will just claw at each other non stop.

LadyTBolt

I wish I was as rich as the OP to regularly pay needless fines and appear so unphased about it. Imagine what he could do with all the money if he didn't get them all the time????

Liam Byrne

TripleAce wrote: »

Let's be realistic for a minute. Did you ever drive 10/15km/hour over the limit? Because that's all you need to get fined at the end of the day....

And if I did ? I'd say "fair cop" and wouldn't come on boards.ie bitching about it. Do the crime, pay the fine. End of story.

For the record : one speeding ticket, one clamping (legitimate space @ 11pm at night, didn't know they were still charging) and one parking ticket.

LadyTBolt wrote: »

I wish I was as rich as the OP to regularly pay needless fines and appear so unphased about it. Imagine what he could do with all the money if he didn't get them all the time????

Interesting assumption

TripleAce

LadyTBolt wrote: »

I wish I was as rich as the OP to regularly pay needless fines and appear so unphased about it. Imagine what he could do with all the money if he didn't get them all the time????

TBH I am not rich at all.....but 40€ more or less are not going to change my life. Said this, I would rather give 100€ to charity than wasting them like this.

One thing I notice is that they never leave the fine notification on the car, is this normal? I only find out about the fine 3 weeks after the fact and have only a few days to pay before the fine gets increased.

Going back to the original question, does any of you notice Taxi parked in the Taxi Rank on Cecil Street just outside the Sin Bin on Saturday nights?

Thanks.

concussion

No, I've never seen a taxi there - because it's always full of illegally parked cars.....

source

TripleAce wrote: »

Going back to the original question, does any of you notice Taxi parked in the Taxi Rank on Cecil Street just outside the Sin Bin on Saturday nights?

Thanks.

That rank was full last night, there were about 6 or 7 taxi's parked along there,you know just because you don't see them sitting there doesn't mean it's not being used, they do occasionally get fares which take them to all manner of areas in the city, last night was a thursday night, so was quieter than a saturday hence the taxi's sitting on the rank waiting for fares.

Also it's very well marked out, even on the road it says " Taxi Rank 1900 to 0700" a few times along the length of the rank.

bottom line is you were caught, take the fine and be thankful that the car wasn't seized for causing an obstruction. that would have cost you a hell of a lot more.

Liam Byrne

TripleAce wrote: »

I would rather give 100€ to charity than wasting them like this.

Fair play (no sarcasm intended).

So just stop parking illegally - next time you're tempted to, think of the charity. And having parked legally and gone home without a fine, pay €100 to charity. Win-win.