Double parking fine shock for Sunday shopper

MY wife seems by mischance to have stumbled across a new stealth tax scam operating in Cork city.

One Sunday recently she parked our car in Princes Street. When she returned to it there were no messages on the windscreen, but a few weeks later she received a fine notice from the gardaí for an alleged parking offence.

Two weeks later she received a second fine notice for the same ‘offence’ — this time from the traffic department of Cork City Council for the same date a few minutes later. When we queried this double dipping, we were told the fines were from different authorities and both must be paid. A nice revenue earner.