gardaí alienating public

Milk & Honey

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-will-never-be-respected--if-they-keep-alienating-the-public-2098881.html

I would say the gardaí would alienate the public more if the dont enforce the law. The tax must have been out of date for a considerable time. What is it about Irish people that thinks they must be the sole exception to every rule and law. Particularly so when it comes to taxing, insuring, maintaining and parking cars.

kingofburt

I love the way she mentions her brother representing Ireland a few times as though the garda should have let her off. How can a journalist get paid to write an article on how unfair it is to get caught being a tax dodger.

Ian Beale

Tax has to be out for 2 or 3 months if I remember correctly for a car to be seized, noticed how She said she'd have to back tax it and pay this years tax too so you can be sure it was a lot more then 2/3 months out of date. I laughed when she was angry about having to walk, no sympathy, She expected a slap on the wrist and got a bite in the arse:D

TestTransmission

Got what she deserved

corktina

I cant afford a Mini Cooper but I tax my 10 year old car at the due date.

ALso, why refer to the other guy as a "non-national"? Inverted racism raising its ugly head?

smellslikeshoes

More like Sunday Independent journalists alientating public.

I am fully aware I am at fault for not having tax on my car, but my brother and I did not deserve to be left stranded on the side of the N7. He is an 18-year-old Leaving Cert student who was on his way to represent his country.

No sympathy for her whatsoever, it was her fault that they were left on the side of the road. Maybe the prospect of this happening to her again will make sure she always pays her tax in future.

11811

Yeah her car should have been taken from her but in fairness leaving two people on the side of a busy road like is taking the mick IMO.

I've had it happen to me, no complaints - I had no tax, my own fault - but the Guards at least gave a lift to the station to sort it out. And I just had to pay the release fee - then had 10 days to tax the car, I did not have to back tax it on the spot.
A friend of mine had a similar situation on a country road on his way to work, he got a left to his destination.

There seems to a lot of inconsistency in the way which this is being done - and that really should be addressed, leaving something like this to the discretion of the guard on the day is not on.

Pyridine

I don't know I think there's more to this story than she's letting on. She probably came across all high and mighty and pissed the gaurds off.

Then if you read where she was dropped off:

We walked to the Louis Fitzgerald hotel

When I read that I was thinking that the gaurd probably dropped them off close enough on the hotel as with the bitchiness of the rest of the article she definitely would have emphasised the time it took to walk the distance had it been more than a few minutes.

Also this caught my eye:

My brother made his flight and I back-taxed my car and got it released from the compound.

So what's the point of the article if her brother made his flight?? That some "immigrant" got a lift and she didn't??

Also if it was that easy to tax/back tax her car why didn't she do it when they sent out notification? Someone should contact her and tell her it can be done on the internet now!!

Berty

What I read between the lines was:

It's a disgrace........................but only because it happened to me.

Atlantic Dawn

Doesn't say how long her tax is out for, does she expect exemption from the law because she is a journalist or because that her brother represents Ireland. 3 months is the norm for seizure if it was out by that much it should have been crushed into a cube, no excuse.

Seth Brundle

I wonder if any of Marie Crowe's other expertly written articles included any on the economy, etc.

Stark

Poor dear, all the expense she had to go through to pick up her car. Must have almost negated the savings she made from not paying her tax.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Stark

I feel compelled to write a letter saying the madam got what she deserved and to praise the Gardaí for making sure people can't hold themselves above the law just because their brother plays for Ireland, loike.

TheColl

Stark wrote: »

I feel compelled to write a letter saying the madam got what she deserved and to praise the Gardaí for making sure people can't hold themselves above the law just because their brother plays for Ireland, loike.

Same here... She seems to expect some sort of special treatment because her brother represents Ireland! I wonder would she expect Brian Cowen to be allowed drive around with no tax... he represents Ireland after all! What a silly article. And her brother made the flight, get over it!

It all came back to me on Friday night

The poor dear appears to be really traumatised!

-Corkie-

Ya i got the impression that the car was out a long time "plus the back tax, plus this year's tax.
How the hell do she think she can get away with it. Car must have been over 3 months out of tax. The guards arent that bad at all. She deserved it.

daRobot

Not much of an article really.

She probably would have been better off taking the angle about how extortionate the motor tax rates are, and that they need changing.

It's absolutely insane to think that if you imported a new mazda rx8, that you'd be paying 2100 euro a year.

Good job Gardaí, she'll never miss paying the tax again.

Suck it up b**ch

efb

This is the Sindo yeah? So not surprised!

Where was the obligatory Glenda Gilson Rosanna Davidson reference?

stepbar

Mind you... Do the Guards not offer a method of payment on the spot?

Seweryn

Milk & Honey wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-will-never-be-respected--if-they-keep-alienating-the-public-2098881.html

... "A non-national was apprehended for having no tax"...
Who the h-l is a "non-national"? :mad:
Still some Sunday Independent editor allowed that rubbish not to be corrected. Hate that really...

..."He is an 18-year-old Leaving Cert student who was on his way to represent his country"...
And for that reason they should have been treated in a very different way .

spurious

Good result by the guards - she won't do it again and hopefully those of the Indo customers who can read won't either.

More of that sort of thing.

peasant

If indeed it is true that noe of the gardai identified himself properly nor explained what eactly was happening to her car and where and how she could retrieve it, she does have a point though.

There is seizing a car and there is being plain rude.

zilog_jones

I wouldn't risk driving to the shops with no tax, never mind driving across the country to take my brother representing Ireland to the airport. I think she's the alienated one here...

Stark

I'm sure she was also driving courteously and within the speed limit on the N7 when the Gardaí used their powers of super-observation to identify her untaxed car in the sea of busy traffic.

peasant wrote:

If indeed it is true that noe of the gardai identified himself properly nor explained what eactly was happening to her car and where and how she could retrieve it, she does have a point though.

There is seizing a car and there is being plain rude.

Well I don't think it's common practice to give a name unless specifically asked for it. The sight of the blue shirt/jumper with "Garda" written on it is usually enough to clue in most people. She has a bit of a point about not being told how to pick up the car or being given a receipt. Still deserved it though imo.

Absurdum

motortax is a pile of balls and needs to be abolished in its current form, but she got what she deserved

Gary ITR

peasant wrote: »

If indeed it is true that noe of the gardai identified himself properly nor explained what eactly was happening to her car and where and how she could retrieve it, she does have a point though.

There is seizing a car and there is being plain rude.

She mentions being very distressed at the situation, I would imagine she was hardly listening to the Guard while probably repeating over and over again that she 'wasn't from Dublin' and had to get to the airport (I didn't know being from outside Dublin made you tax exempt, I feel a right fool now for moving back to Dublin)

Also the Louis Fitz hotel is on a pedestrian safe part of the N7 and I don't believe she had to walk too far to it because to do that she would have walked past the Green Isle Hotel and also the turn in to a small shopping centre and Topaz station along with Bewley's hotel. Also the car was taken to Airton Road in Tallaght, if she had been further out the N7, past Citywest the car would most likely have been taken to Naas.

That ridiculous excuse of a journalist should suck it up, she knew the risks and would be a liar if she said it didn't cross her mind that her tax was out of date when she agreed to take her brother to Dublin. The Gardai have a thankless job as it is without a 'Journalist' (I use that term very loosely) in one of the country's biggest selling newspapers slating them for following the law and taking on untaxed drivers.

Ms.Crowe, if you can't afford to tax your Mini Cooper buy something else that's cheaper to tax or take the bus

macplaxton

What a load of tosh.

Got what she deserved. I tax, NCT and insure my car on time, it's not a difficult thing to do and get right.

You'd have thought that the way she was going on, her brother was 2 or something :rolleyes::D.

high horse

These were men in uniforms all right, garda uniforms, but it was only as one of them drove off in my car...

Is that standard procedure? I would have thought if your car was seized that it would be taken away by a tow truck

No sympathy for the woman though. I've driven my car a few times when the tax was out of date but I knew the risk I was taking, I wouldn't be blaming anybody else if I got caught

donvito99

Don't cry for me, Argentina...

Thoie

Must have been a slow news week if that's the best she could think to write about. I was going to say I have no sympathy for her, but loathe though I am to admit it, I had a teensy bit. Not for the tax, not for the fact that she was from the country, bringing her brother to the airport, but for the lack of identification from the gardaí.

I mentioned here before that I once got flagged down in the middle of nowhere at 2 or 3 in the morning by two men wearing "Gardaí" jackets. The only identification of any sort that they offered was the fact that they had the jackets, and the very first thing they said to me was "Get out of the car".

It wouldn't be any harm for the gardaí to offer more identification in the case of "non-obvious" stops, and to issue a receipt of some kind if they're taking your car.

Still though, she lost that shred of sympathy from me when she continued whining that it just wasn't fair.

Gary ITR

high horse wrote: »

Is that standard procedure? I would have thought if your car was seized that it would be taken away by a tow truck

Can be either or.

A Guard once told me 'depends on if it's nice or not'. Bottom line is they can do whichever they like

McSpud

Why would some one not tax their car? It can all be done online in a matter of minutes.

I'll admit I left my NCT expire for long time a few years ago but I wouldn't have moaned in a national paper if I was caught.

MagicMarker

I agree that it's her own fault, but ffs she's not even from Dublin, what if it had happened a 9pm, to someone with no money on them? Are they to walk back to clare? Hitch hike?

The guard was just being a prick tbh. It shouldn't be at his discretion to seize someone's car or not. Either everyone's car should be seized if found to be without tax, or no one's car should be seized.

Bigus

McSpud wrote: »

Why would some one not tax their car? It can all be done online in a matter of minutes.

I'll admit I left my NCT expire for long time a few years ago but I wouldn't have moaned in a national paper if I was caught.

One might not tax their car if they were short of money and decided to pay mortgage first, so not so simple online if no funds in your account.

Personally wouldn't mind somebody driving untaxed once car was insured.

I remember when untaxed after three months seizure rule was brought in and I mistakingly thought that it would only be used to seize uninsured or dangerous vechicles.

I didn't think it would be used in a high handed

"i'll show you, respectable person who your dealing with how dare you drive insured Nct'd but untaxed on my roads. How else will my wages get paid ?

The gaurds are not revenue colllectors and it is dangerous to have them perceived as such.

At the retirement do of a very good relatively young Murder detective his best part of his speech to young Gaurds was "leave the decent people alone" He was given this advice years before by an old Garda

And i say if the Garda here end up anything like the forces across the water both them and us are Fecked when it comes to serious Crime and co-operation from the public.

Garda and decent people should never become a them and us.

I understand exactly where the Journalist is coming from and i don't see how a fine and paying back tax is not a better solution then seizing a car in a display of power and dare i say ignorance/piggyness

Gary ITR

If it was 9pm the Guard probably would have used discretion and let her on her way. The fact is it wasn't 9pm at night, I'd love to know how far out the tax was tbh. If it was only 3 months she probably would have said. I imagine it was out by quite a bit

tricky D

Bigus wrote: »

One might not tax their car if they were short of money and decided to pay mortgage first, so not so simple online if no funds in your account.

It's simple enough to take your car off the road until you can pay.

Bigus wrote: »

The gaurds are not revenue colllectors and it is dangerous to have them perceived as such.

So why do they impose so many fines.

Bigus wrote: »

...best part of his speech to young Gaurds was "leave the decent people alone" He was given this advice years before by an old Garda

Garda and decent people should never become a them and us.

Decent tax dodger isn't making much sense.

zilog_jones

It's hard to know exactly what happened with only her side of the story. How was she stopped? ANPR? The only checkpoints I've ever seen on the N7 was like a weighing station or something (they were only stopping vans and trucks - customs?). Maybe she was speeding or doing something else that attracted the guards?

Maybe she was being discourteous and unhelpful towards the guards? She seems to have some self-righteousness thing going on.

McSpud wrote:

I'll admit I left my NCT expire for long time a few years ago but I wouldn't have moaned in a national paper if I was caught.

A few years ago it was essentially an offence with no consequences. I went through many a checkpoint with an expired NCT (it was impossible to book for the test at the time), no questions asked. But today it's a different story.

Motor tax should be on the fuel and our police force shouldnt be tax collectors simple as

I dont particularly give a damn about the reporter but for the hell of it its worth noting that:

More than 28,000 homeowners are three months behind with mortgage repayments, official figures revealed today.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/thousands-of-homeowners-in-mortgage-arrears-448492.html#ixzz0iAkxsriY

parsi

Bigus wrote: »

"leave the decent people alone"

Writes for the Sindo, drives an untaxed posers car - doesn't count as decent in my book.

challengemaster

Deleted User wrote: »

Motor tax should be on the fuel

Jesus, what price are you willing to pay for fuel? It's bad enough as is imo...

anyway, got what she deserved tbh

Bigus

parsi wrote: »

Writes for the Sindo, drives an untaxed posers car - doesn't count as decent in my book.

Cop on , i don't like journalists either, but if the car was insured then she's decent to me.

Seems some people here equate driving an untaxed car to drug dealing, kidnapping and throwing pipe bombs, that's exactly what i mean
&
the op called this thread " Gardai alienting public. " with good reason

Whats more shocking is the high and mighty attitude here to maybe somebody who's short of money shouldn't be driving an untaxed poseurs car.

So maybe driving an untaxed piece of dirt is acceptable, this is the stuff that should be seized.

As blindjustice says some people have bigger worries than taxing the car.

And let the gaurds switch to crime from revenue

Seweryn

challengemaster wrote: »

Jesus, what price are you willing to pay for fuel? It's bad enough as is imo...

The price of fuel should be kept the way it is at the moment, but the motor tax should be abolished, as I have a feeling that the "carbon" tax and the previous two petrol and Diesel fuel duty increases somehow "replaced" the motor tax, if the motor tax was scrapped... I know it is thinking from a different planet, but the cost of motoring in this country went mental recently...

Drummerboy08

sunday.letters@independent.ie

Make your feelings be known people....

Drummerboy08

Bigus wrote: »

Cop on , i don't like journalists either, but if the car was insured then she's decent to me.

Seems some people here equate driving an untaxed car to drug dealing, kidnapping and throwing pipe bombs, that's exactly what i mean
&
the op called this thread " Gardai alienting public. " with good reason

Whats more shocking is the high and mighty attitude here to maybe somebody who's short of money shouldn't be driving an untaxed poseurs car.

So maybe driving an untaxed piece of dirt is acceptable, this is the stuff that should be seized.

As blindjustice says some people have bigger worries than taxing the car.

And let the gaurds switch to crime from revenue

Its evading tax. Tax Dodging. If I have to pay for my motor tax, she has to too. I dont care if she has other things on her mind like getting little Oisin and Saoirse to school, or deciding what group of people to lambast next for doing their job.

Your post is a load of bollix in my opinion.

Gary ITR

Bigus wrote: »

Seems some people here equate driving an untaxed car to drug dealing, kidnapping and throwing pipe bombs, that's exactly what i mean
&
the op called this thread " Gardai alienting public. " with good reason

I don't think so, what I am implying is if you're caught just take your medicine. I mean, she knew the consequences or at least should have. I really couldn't give a toss if somebody chooses to drive a car with no tax or NCT

Bigus wrote: »

Whats more shocking is the high and mighty attitude here to maybe somebody who's short of money shouldn't be driving an untaxed poseurs car.

So maybe driving an untaxed piece of dirt is acceptable, this is the stuff that should be seized.

It was the writer that made a point of telling us readers that she was driving Mini Cooper, she also made a point of telling us and the Guards that her brother was representing Ireland. I represented Ireland too, doesn't make me exempt from traffic law

Bigus wrote: »

As blindjustice says some people have bigger worries than taxing the car.

That they do, but you can't park your house in the garden and not use it if you can't afford to pay for it. Can't afford a Mini Cooper then go buy something cheaper. Also I don't believe that a Sindo writer can't afford 3 months tax

Bigus wrote: »

And let the gaurds switch to crime from revenue

They are enforcing traffic law, it's currently their job.


Like I said, I couldn't give a fiddlers if somebody drives a micra with 3 wheels with no tax, no NCT or no license but if your caught then take your medicine. The only thing I would care about is Insurance

parsi

Bigus wrote: »

Cop on , i don't like journalists either, but if the car was insured then she's decent to me.

Seems some people here equate driving an untaxed car to drug dealing, kidnapping and throwing pipe bombs, that's exactly what i mean
&
the op called this thread " Gardai alienting public. " with good reason

Whats more shocking is the high and mighty attitude here to maybe somebody who's short of money shouldn't be driving an untaxed poseurs car.

So maybe driving an untaxed piece of dirt is acceptable, this is the stuff that should be seized.

As blindjustice says some people have bigger worries than taxing the car.

And let the gaurds switch to crime from revenue

So lets see..

What exactly are the offences that _you_ believe are alright to commit ? Lets go ask Johnny Scumbag and he might detail another list - this list might include things that affect you.

We all have big worries but we all have to comply with the law _especially_ if you write for a rag which is constantly decrying other folk for their lapses.

who is this

Onkle wrote: »

I represented Ireland too, doesn't make me exempt from traffic law

Ah but therein lies your mistake. It was you, not your brother. :P

focus_mad

I think this reporter should be told if this is all she has to report about she isn't doing her job well enough!!

In regards to her brother representing Ireland, why should that matter? If I was drink driving and was stopped and then said to the Garda its cool me cousins and uncle represented Ireland, I know I'd be "politely taken out" of the vehicle just for been a smartarse!!;)

who is this

It wouldn't even be as bad if by "representing Ireland" she meant something, like being in the Defence Forces, where he'd actually be serving the State. Even still it would be outrageous to suggest that changes anything, but less so.

Saab Ed

Written by the Indo, the paper bought by the majority, the same majority that elected this gobsh!te government, the same majority who managed it 3 times infact, the same majority who paid a zillion euro for their houses and stuck Range Rovers and Mini Coopers on the mortage.

An idiot to do it, an idiot to think she should have got off with it and an ever bigger idiot for writing about it in a national newspaper. Funny thing is though that most of the majority who'll jump to condem her would probably take a similar tone in a similar situation. :cool: