The Galway City Council collected more than half a million euro in revenue from parking fines last year. Figures released by the local authority show that 14,683 parking tickets were issued by traffic wardens around the city in 2014. That equates to an average of just over 40 tickets per day.
These penalties yielded the council €538,066 and this money is returned to the local authority’s central revenue fund for the provision of services across the city.
However the 2014 total represents a substantial reduction on the number of parking fines which were handed out in the previous year: 2013, when the figure stood at 18,282. This represents an average of 50 tickets per day.
Parking has long been a contentious issue in the city with traders insisting the high cost, and risk of fines, is dissuading shoppers from venturing into the city centre. There are currently six community wardens employed by the city council, who are assigned traffic management and enforcement duties under the Roads Acts and Traffic Wardens Act 1975.
The council’s website lists the misdemeanours for which motorists will receive fines. The offence which incurs the largest penalty is parking in a disabled spot without displaying a valid permit, which will lead to a fine of €80. Failing to display a current tax disc on your vehicle leads to a charge of €60, while all other offences incur penalties of €40. These could include failing to display a payment disc, parking at an in-valid destination such as double yellow lines, a footpath, loading bay or clearway, and a pedestrianised area, etc.
When a traffic or community warden issues a parking fine, the person who receives it has 28 days, from the date of issue of the fine, to make payment.
If payment is not made within 28 days the amount of the fine will increase by 50 per cent. If payment is not received within a 56 day period, court proceedings will be initiated and payment of the fixed charge cannot be accepted thereafter. Summary conviction in a court for Failure to Pay a Fixed Charge Notice can incur a charge up to €1,000 along with costs.
If you receive a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice/parking fine and you consider this action unjustified, you are entitled to lodge a written appeal to the Traffic Section, Galway City Council, College Road, Galway.
Of the 14,683 fines which were handed out in 2014, 1,826 were appealed and more than half these (986 ) appeals were upheld.
