Parking Wardens... what assholes!

echosound

Kahless wrote: »

First one on this page
http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/parking/general-rules.html

it states "where possible" park in the direction of traffic flow. How can they give a ticket for something which is so open to interpretation? I would take that to be a guideline for ease of parking, rather than a fixed rule that carries defined penalties for not adhering to. Those general rules also state to leave a car parked in either first gear or reverse, are traffic wardens also giving out tickets if they can somehow spy that a car has been left parked in second gear (or shock horror, in neutral).

On the topic of over-zealous traffic wardens, I previously posted a slight rant here about the same thing. My solution was to avoid having to park in Waterford centre at all, and if I do, to try to do so in private carparks (like city sq, newgate st etc).
So in my case, the council are losing revenue to private operators (and to other towns that operate a more user-friendly parking system, such as first 20 minutes free) for being over-zealous.

JohnC.

echosound wrote: »

it states "where possible" park in the direction of traffic flow. How can they give a ticket for something which is so open to interpretation?

How is it open to interpretation? It's either possible or impossible.

echosound

Kahless wrote: »

How is it open to interpretation? It's either possible or impossible.

It's open to interpretation as to whether it's a ticketable offence or not if you park against the flow of traffic. It's open to interpretation as to whether you can park against the flow of traffic at all. All it says is "where possible, park in the direction of traffic flow".

It does not state that it is an actual breach of rules, and a ticketable offence, to park against the flow of traffic. Hence the being open to interpretation. If they wanted it to read "never park against the flow of traffic" they would have written it as such. It's those two words - where possible. Which would suggest that where not possible, it may be permissible to park against the flow if a space is available. And here comes room for interpretation. I have never heard of anyone (until now on this thread) getting ticketed for parking against the flow, so obviously most wardens interpret it the same way I did in my previous post - as a guideline for ease of parking. Some wardens interpret it differently (in the case of Junior's above noted experience).

(I don't think I have ever used the words "possible" or "flow" as many times in two paragraphs as I have in this post!:))

puppetmaster

Yeh there is a right toerag in the city that got me when i was off getting the ticket. Since you have ten minutes to get the ticket (used to say that on the back of the old disks) he was in breach of the regs, but he didnt care still slapped me with the ticket. had to go through the appeal. Which was approved.

MEh what can ya do most of them are just doing a job that most ppl hate. But still that fella must hop off Horlicks...

sarah88

Yeah i actually enquired about that 10 minute rule to the city council but they wouldnt give me a straight answer! i was parked up one day and went into the house to get change for a ticket, when i came back out 2 or 3 mins later there was a fine on the car. i went straight over to the council and explained what happpened, the one behind the desk asked me if i had the purchased ticket to include in the appeal, where i had to re-explain that i didn even have time to get a ticket. in the end the appeal was denied.

However i did discover that if you are a quick mover after you get a fine, its very possible to get away with it.
TIP: if you get a fine for no ticket/timed out ticket, where you are either in your car or see it happening, leg it to the nearest ticket machine and buy a ticket, then appeal it saying you were buying a ticket when you were fined, guarantee it will work!

wmpdd3

I think the road junior is talking about is one way, in which case you have to park in the direction of the traffic.

The 10minute rule is in here somewhere:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1966/en/si/0087.html

sarah88

Thanks for the link wmpdd3, couldnt find about the 10 min rule in there, however i did find an interesting part where it defines
the relevant hours "—


(a) on a weekday other than Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.


(b) on a Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ;

Now one of the things i gathered from this was these would be the hours you pay for parking, and as today being thursday and have heard about this before about parking wardans only working untill one on a thursday.....i parked near town after one oclock.....and got a parking fine:( Grounds for appeal??

nkay1985

sarah88 wrote: »

Thanks for the link wmpdd3, couldnt find about the 10 min rule in there, however i did find an interesting part where it defines
the relevant hours "—


(a) on a weekday other than Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.


(b) on a Thursday, the period from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ;

Now one of the things i gathered from this was these would be the hours you pay for parking, and as today being thursday and have heard about this before about parking wardans only working untill one on a thursday.....i parked near town after one oclock.....and got a parking fine:( Grounds for appeal??

I'd say the individual local authority has the right to define the applicable parking hours to be honest. Can't really complain when you park and don't/forget to but a ticket and then get fined for it.

sarah88 wrote: »

However i did discover that if you are a quick mover after you get a fine, its very possible to get away with it.
TIP: if you get a fine for no ticket/timed out ticket, where you are either in your car or see it happening, leg it to the nearest ticket machine and buy a ticket, then appeal it saying you were buying a ticket when you were fined, guarantee it will work!

I was thinking this exact thing myself which also led me to think of a nice possible earner for someone. If you were to follow the parking warden around, watch him write a ticket for someone, head to the ticket machine and get a ticket within two or three minutes of the time on the fine, then wait for the owner to come back to the car and present them with the option of buying the parking ticket from you at a cost of say €20 and appealing the fine (which would be successful) instead of paying the fine of €40 or whatever it is. Works out for everyone except the local authority. A nice €19 profit or whatever for you and the person would save themselves €20.

I reckon it would work for a while until they realised what you were up to which could be a good long time if you weren't stupid about it!

Heathen

one thing i find funny is how wardens put parking tickets on cars that are clearly abandoned.. i have seen loads of them with 20 or 30 parking tickets under the wiperblade and the car is covered in sap and dust, obviously sitting there over a year without being moved.. whats the point even putting another ticket on the car? just report it and get it moved!!

Premier

Heathen wrote: »

one thing i find funny is how wardens put parking tickets on cars that are clearly abandoned.. i have seen loads of them with 20 or 30 parking tickets under the wiperblade and the car is covered in sap and dust, obviously sitting there over a year without being moved.. whats the point even putting another ticket on the car? just report it and get it moved!!

So do the fines go to last previous owner?

puppetmaster

satpaul wrote: »

So do the fines go to last previous owner?

Yeh goes to "current" registered owner.

Stokolan

puppetmaster wrote: »

Yeh goes to "current" registered owner.

Who happens to be Mieczyslaw, who flew back to Poland few months ago.

Had a car parked across the road abandoned for a bout 2 months. Thankfully a dodgy looking fella came and removed it after knocking at doors to see if anyone owned it.

snuggles09

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

jonnyfingers

snuggles09 wrote: »

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

Ah Jesus that's bad enough form in fairness.

Chris P. Bacon

snuggles09 wrote: »

talk about sods bloody law..went into town this morning to tax my car..put a ticket on the car..got back in and realised i had a parking fine in the glove box i had forgotten about but as i was at the tax office anyway would run into housing office and pay it..though i had another 10 mins left..went into the hosuing office, paid the fine and came back out to ANOTHER fine on my car..time on it was 9.57...time my ticket was up was 9.55..2 mins..I'm savage..me own fault but still peed off..

least it's not raining:(

That's rough alright, I'd go back into them and explain that its 2 bloody minutes and you got it while you were paying a previous one,its worth a try you never know.

JohnC.

How long was it then before you actually got back to the car? Must have been more than 2 minutes if he wasn't still around.

I'm not sure explaining that you got a ticket while paying a previous one would really go in your favour either. They might think it's a habit.

snuggles09

it wasnt my ticket i was paying:( i was paying my other halves that he got a few weeks ago..i've only ever gotten 2 tickets in my life..i got back to the car at about 10.05..was my own fault for not realising i didnt have more time on it..the irony of it all though..thats why i posted it here..lol:D

on a positive note though at least i was after going back to the car and putting the new tax disc in or i might have been done for that as well...ah well..live and learn and all that

haydo333

If you have a residents parking permit and you get a parking fine for that street then don't pay it. It never goes to court, my dad has been doing it for years. He gets threatening letters but never pays. The corpo wouldn't have a leg to stand on in front of the judge as he has a valid residents permit.

Also he had the greatest pleasure in returning a stack of about 30 letters belonging to a tenant of a flat who had recently vacated to the traffic fine office. Your man had never paid any fines in months! Your one's face was priceless hehe!

Chris P. Bacon

haydo333 wrote: »

If you have a residents parking permit and you get a parking fine for that street then don't pay it.

I could be wrong but you cant get a ticket if you have a permit for the street you are parked on.

haydo333

No you shouldn't get a ticket if you have a residents permit but i noticed that a lot of people were getting them if it wasn't properly displayed (according to the warden). It's a common problem for residents to get tickets by accident but are still forced to pay them so just some advice to those who have been affected in this way