Clamping and the law...

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 11:52am #1

I had the misfortune to be clamped yesterday under the following circumstances:

Parked in a very wide footpath area ie. greater than 6m in width. There was a full row of cars parked there - as there is every day of the week. Mine was the only vehicle to be clamped on the basis that there was a telephone box alongside where i parked. They maintained that there wasnt enough space between phone box and vehicle for a pedestrian with a double bugey to get through.

Does anyone know where i can find the guidelines or byelaws relating to this?
Clamping occured within Galway City area.

BrianD · 07-12-2004 12:44pm

Bit of a tough one! Why not contact the council and ask them what the bye laws are. Having said that, I thought once you were parked on the pavement all of the cars would have been fair game for a yellow boot.

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 12:57pm

Why not contact the council and ask them what the bye laws are.

I will probably utilise their appeals procedure - just want to educate myself before doing so.

I thought once you were parked on the pavement all of the cars would have been fair game for a yellow boot.

Well, to be fair i would have thought so too. Its just that i have been utilising this spot once a month for the last six months - and started doing so on the basis that the area was being utilised right throughout the day - every day - for parking...and i never say any yellow boots.

Zaph0d · 07-12-2004 1:29pm

Eurorunner wrote:

They maintained that there wasnt enough space between phone box and vehicle for a pedestrian with a double bugey to get through.

Do you know if this is true? If you want to contest the case, you would need to measure the distance and take a photo of the place yourself. I have seen someone successfully defend himself in court (in Dublin) this way.

If on the other hand, you did park near a phone box so that you blocked the path to the extent that a buggy or wheelchair couldn't pass then I guess it's a fair cop as your action was antisocial.

I don't know if there is a more recent version of the Galway parking bye-laws than this but here you go:

GALWAY TRAFFIC AND PARKING BYE-LAWS, 1974 wrote:

Places where parking prohibited.
8. (1) Notwithstanding an indication by means of a traffic sign, a vehicle shall not be parked on a public road in any of the following places—
...
( c ) on a footway, whether the vehicle is so parked wholly or partly

Which seems to say that you can't park on the path.

Victor · 07-12-2004 2:01pm

Some wide footpaths are not in the control of the council and may be parked on with the consent of the owner, provided you don't park on the council section. However, in doing so, you may not restrict the public footpath.

It sounds like a fair cop.

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 2:56pm

hmm...i think im fecked on this one. I'll check it out when i'm passing again, but I think there would just have been enough space for a wheelchair - but there wouldnt have been much to spare.

Even if i was convinced there was enough space left, would i have a case on the basis that they have singled me out - from a line of ten vehicles - given that the current byelaw in galway states that you cant park on a footpath?
ie. I have nevertheless broken the law but am the only one to be penalised for it.

Zaph0d · 07-12-2004 3:12pm

This defence wouldn't work in a speeding case or a drug possession case. I guess the easiest thing is to pay the fine. is it €20 or something?

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 3:13pm

€80 - release fee.
I did point out to them that half of galway park there every day of the week - including the ten other cars that were there at the time. But they were not interested in clamping them as in their view, they had not restricted the use of the footpath.

jlang · 07-12-2004 5:15pm

Eurorunner wrote:

they were not interested in clamping them as in their view, they had not restricted the use of the footpath.

I hate to agree with the clampers, but it actually seems that they were being quite reasonable in this case.

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 5:30pm

@jlang: I can't complain with it in principal - however, €80 is a high tax for something i just wasnt aware of....i wasnt thinking in terms of double buggys! (apologies to all boardsies with 4WD double buggys

).

sliabh · 07-12-2004 5:34pm

Eurorunner wrote:

@jlang: I can't complain with it in principal - however, €80 is a high tax for something i just wasnt aware of....

Ignorance of the law is never a defence!

Eurorunner · 07-12-2004 5:45pm

Ignorance of the law is never a defence!

I'm not using it as a defence. However, i am píssed as you or anyone else would be in the given scenario.

sliabh · 07-12-2004 5:53pm

Eurorunner wrote:

I'm not using it as a defence. However, i am píssed as you or anyone else would be in the given scenario.

I can understand.

My sister got clamped once on College green. Her husband and I told her it was a taxi waiting spot, that she was in ground zero for clampers in Dublin. But no, she thought she would be all right. She would only be gone for an hour or two.

This is what happens when you move to Cork. Your brain goes soft and you forget what it's like in the big bad city

Victor · 07-12-2004 7:22pm

Eurorunner wrote:

€80 - release fee. I did point out to them that half of galway park there every day of the week - including the ten other cars that were there at the time. But they were not interested in clamping them as in their view, they had not restricted the use of the footpath.

Clampers can't clamp every single vehicle, it wouldn't be practical or economic. So they use a hierarchy of offences, nuisance parking (obstructing footpath in this case) is high on this list.

Clamping and the law...

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