Traffic wardens to be privatised, Murphy meets Shoukri; Mc Donald and Mc Farland. Is this just a terrible coincidence.

Pat - It's all a bad dream. Kerry will step out of the shower as President of the USA.

Two things. If you dont illegally park you wont get clamped. Secondly speed cameras have reduced the death toll where they have been placed. There is no call to speed.

Keep within the law and it wont affect you.

God Save The Queen.

This is a little off topic, but I was wondering what everyone thinks of those who put traffic cones at the side of the road thinking that they are allowed to reserve a parking space for themselves?

I don't like it and remove the cones, unless of course they are supposed to be there for roadworks or whatever.

Agree about the cones.

Those people in the Markets were also a disgrace intimidating people from parking on public roads.

Pat

Funny, I was thinking that myself.

One reason Dundalk introduced clamping was because our northern brethren had a habit of parking illegally and not paying their subsequent ticket fines. It worked in this instance.

As for cones, a disgrace. Get a driveway.

Residents Parking Schemes ?

They can work well providing the Councils don't regard them as a cash crop.

Does that mean the "Agreement" will be clamped

cos it seems to me that it has been parked for an awful long time :-)

While the problem of cones can be annoying I would ask people to understand the predicament of people who live in areas like the Markets.
In most cases building a driveway is not an option the streets and houses are too small. I know somw people who have converted what garden they have into a drive but that only exacerbates the problem.
If they are not out early enough city centre workers see no problem in parking in front of their gates and in effect blocking them in all day.
Also I know people who park their cars outside their own homes and while they drive their kids to school come back to find cars from outside the area parked outside their homes. Given that all parking space in the immediate area is taken they are forced to park some considerable distances from their homes.
Also such traffic congestion in narrow streeted built up areas can prove a danger to young children in the area.

Personally the car drivers should realise that they do have some civic responsibility.

What do you think of a Residents parking scheme then Pat ?

Pat

While the problem of cones can be annoying I would ask people to understand the predicament of people who live in areas like the Markets.
In most cases building a driveway is not an option the streets and houses are too small. I know somw people who have converted what garden they have into a drive but that only exacerbates the problem. If they are not out early enough city centre workers see no problem in parking in front of their gates and in effect blocking them in all day. Also I know people who park their cars outside their own homes and while they drive their kids to school come back to find cars from outside the area parked outside their homes. Given that all parking space in the immediate area is taken they are forced to park some considerable distances from their homes.
Also such traffic congestion in narrow streeted built up areas can prove a danger to young children in the area. Personally the car drivers should realise that they do have some civic responsibility.

If the Markets residents want to stop people parking on the street, then they should lobby to get double or single yellow lines put down. Otherwise it is a public road and open to anyone to park.

They're also lucky they have gardens: I don't have a garden. And I cars park outside my house all day long. I don't put threatening notes on their windscreen, though.

And, in any case, the cars aren't parked outside their homes. They're parked on that street beside Central Station: there are no houses fronting on to that street.

Davros,
If it helped solve the problem yes.

Willowfield,

"If the Markets residents want to stop people parking on the street, then they should lobby to get double or single yellow lines put down. Otherwise it is a public road and open to anyone to park."

Single and double yellow lones would apply to the residents as well. It is a public road and open to anyone. That is what is causing the problems.

"They're also lucky they have gardens: I don't have a garden. And I cars park outside my house all day long. I don't put threatening notes on their windscreen, though."

Some have gardens that are very small and most could not accommodate a car. Good to see you are not threatening people.

"And, in any case, the cars aren't parked outside their homes. They're parked on that street beside Central Station: there are no houses fronting on to that street."

Afraid not, they are parked throughout the Markets area. If anything it is that part of the area on the other side of Cromac St around Sussex Place etc that has cars parked outside homes. Why can't people just use car parks?

I'm with Davros on this one (my driveway comment was a bit flippant). My road was full every morning of cars parked by people who then walked into the city centre to work.

Up came the parking restrictions of €1.80 and hour and, hey presto, now it's totally clear and my permit costs a mere five euro a year. One car allowed per house.

five euro a year ????
Blimey!!!!!

Edinburgh

Central area – Zones 1 to 4

* £160 for 12 months
* £81 for 6 months
* £41 for 3 months

Peripheral area – Zones 5 to 8

* £80 for 12 months
* £41 for 6 months
* £21 for 3 months

One per house has been controversial.

Those prices are scary Davros!
I must admit I also have a driveway so I'm covered if the city council decides that parking could be a cash cow. :-)

More worrying for me is that they're going to start weighing my bin from the new year when they collect my rubbish and charge me accordingly. I get 42% tax relief on it but still a worrying development.

I always thought I'd be dragged kicking and screaming to the bottle bank but it looks like financial necessity will mean I'll meekly shuffle there once a week.

Tax relief as you run a business from home ?

We were charged extra by the council in London when I ran a business !

Nope Davros,
everyone who pays their bin charges in the Irish Republic gets full tax relief on the sum. I don't work from home and from the amount of time I spend here, some would say I barely work at all. :-)

That seems like a strange and inefficient system George.

In what way Davros?

It's a horribly indirect way for Central govt (tax rebates) to partially fund Local government. Why doesn't the Govt give dosh direct ?

Because it will be much harder for them to take it away again I assume and maybe local government can't be trusted with doing the right thing with the dosh.
Also the money only goes to those who claim it(in 2001 only 26,976 individuals claimed it) and it only gets paid out if you pay on time and in full.

ah! so there's a carrot as well as the stick :)

I'm pretty much with Pat on this one (miracles will never cease).

However, this announcement is more likely to PREVENT residents' parking schemes here in the near future than lead to them.

I know someone has been trying to persuade the authorities to introduce a pilot scheme, and the excuse for not doing so is the cost of policing the scheme, what with the PSNI being strapped for money etc.

If there is an impending switch to private clampers, why would the PSNI fork out for a pilot if the whole kaboodle is going to be privatised in the future? It will be delayed at least until the Government sets up the GoCo (Govt-owned company) to look after parking matters.

...sadly.

Quite how one car per house will work in Belfast, with its countless HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) is anyone's guess though.

And if I had a gate and someone parked across it every day, well, it would be unfortunate were some hooligan to let the air out of the tyres wouldn't it...? You'd still be trapped, but at least it would be a laugh.

I oppose privatisation, but if it leads to more clamping and more fines for illegal parkers, I'm all for it.

Gonzo- it doesn't have to be one per house. Loads of HMOs in Edinburgh. All one has to do is prove residency. We could , for example, use the electoral register.

No reason why there should be anything other than a nominal cost for residents' parking schemes.

There's a fair bit of expense involved initially WF.
Work on zoning, surveying, allocation of residents and non-resident spaces, ticket/meter provision for non-residents and loads of road painting and siggns to be erected.

True, but once that's done it's a relatively cheap administrative exercise.