Parking woes: more than half of parking tickets unpaid in some areas

In Louth and Mayo, nearly 50% of all parking tickets went unpaid. Picture Dan Linehan

Less than half of all parking fines issued in one local council area ended up being paid to the local authority with one serial offender running up more than €3,300 in tickets.

A sample of seven local authorities showed the payment rate in Louth County Council was just 47% last year with cross-border motorists and having to go to court blamed in part for the high levels of non-payment.

Separately, an Independent TD has said he believes local authorities need to take more care in marking off parking zones after he appealed against a ticket for a constituent who had parked in a disabled bay.

Deputy Sean Canney sent a representation to Mayo County Council in July saying the motorist had not parked there “intentionally”.

In a letter to the local authority, he wrote: “[The person] did not observe the sign on the road which is faded and it was raining at the time.” Mayo County Council – where more than 40% of tickets went unpaid last year – said in their response they would not be cancelling the ticket.

“Unfortunately, the ticket is payable,” they wrote, “as [the person] parked in a parking space allocated to people with a disability.” Mr Canney said: “Disability spaces are for people with disability but they should be clearly marked. It is important we leave them for people with disability – but it’s important to mark them and lay them out so that there can be no room for confusion.

“Markings should not be allowed to fade because sometimes people will not realise they are in one until they come back. It should be part of the maintenance regime.” A separate parking appeal was made in Mayo by the office of Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway Walsh for a constituent who had also used a disabled space.

In that case however, the person had accidentally forgotten to display their permit and the local authority agreed to waive the fine in that case.

Mayo reported significant issues with repeat parking offenders with one person owing €2,100 on 35 unpaid tickets and another with outstanding fines of €1,680 (for 28 tickets).

In Wexford County Council area, the rate of payment last year was 73% with one person having run up 31 unpaid tickets for a total bill of €1,420.

A local councillor also made an appeal on behalf of a constituent who got a ticket after talking on the side of the road with the same councillor.

Michael Sheehan of Fianna Fáil said he had been doing an on-street charity collection when a constituent approached him to ask about a personal issue.

“During the short conversation,” he said, “the person received a parking fine. I offered to have it reviewed. The parking fine was upheld and the person paid the fine.” 

Low rates of parking fine payment were also recorded in Kerry County Council where last year 59% of fines were paid with a further 18% of them appealed and the appeal accepted.

The council said there was an issue with two repeat offenders in the county with one motorist racking up 16 tickets and €640 in fines.

Another had ten tickets outstanding for €480 and the council said both cases were being brought before the courts.

Donegal County Council reported a payment rate of 83% across the first six months of this year, and 76% throughout 2019.

However, parking income has been minimal for the local authority with just €24,537 collected up to June this year, and a total of €191,198 for all of 2019.

Kildare County Council had the worst illegal parking nuisance of the seven local authorities surveyed under FOI.

That person has 101 separate tickets outstanding with a value of €20,680. Not far behind is a motorist with 80 tickets, cumulatively worth €15,260.

Kildare’s success rate in collecting fines is high by comparison with other local authorities however, and 85% of all tickets issued last year were paid.

In Meath, the local authority has had considerable success in increasing enforcement with the payment rate rising from 60% in 2017 to 77% last year.

Back in Louth where fewer than half of tickets were paid in each year between 2017 and 2019, a spokesman said some of the unpaid tickets were pursued through the courts and were not included in the figure.

He said: “Another issue for a border county is the issuing of fines in relation to vehicles registered in Northern Ireland. 

This represents a significant number of repeat offenders and a procedure is in place to pursue these fines.”