Seanad debates

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Vehicle Clamping Bill 2014: Second Stage

 

5:40 pm

Photo of Marie MoloneyMarie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sure he was. It was probably some years ago, as today people are far more aware of the needs of people with a disability and their requirement for dedicated parking spaces to allow them to open car doors and use lifts, for example. We must remember that disabled people go out at night as well, and they are entitled to go to the cinema or for a drink. It should be clear that nobody should park in a disabled parking space either during the day or during the night. I would not care if fines of €1,000 were levied on people who used those spaces illegally. Anybody parking illegally in such spaces should suffer consequences.

Perhaps there should be a second type of disabled parking for the elderly. If an elderly person is taken to a doctor or a hospital, a person may have to assist such people in getting out of the car. One may link arms with an elderly person and help him or her into a doctor's surgery before seeing that the person is seated comfortably and returning to move the car. I know several people who have received parking fines in such cases, and perhaps in Dublin one may be clamped in such circumstances of helping an elderly person.

Perhaps there could be a system whereby five or ten minutes would be allowed to assist elderly people in such cases, and if a traffic warden came along he or she would be able to see how long the car had been parked. Maybe a parking disc of a different colour could be used to signify a limited time for parking where the driver is assisting an elderly person. This may not be the appropriate Bill for such a measure, but we should think along those lines. In hospitals, elderly people may have to go to an outpatient department that may be some distance from the car park. In Kerry there was no clamping system, but the hospital staff would put a sticker on the windscreen or elsewhere on the car which could not be easily removed. That might be another day's work.

I am not used to the clamping process. If my car was clamped outside this building and relocated, I would not know where to look. My first action might be to ring the Garda to notify it of a stolen car. I would not have a clue what could have happened. If a car is clamped or towed away, the signage must have clear contact details. Perhaps it already does, but if it does not, details on the sign should indicate where the driver must go in order to recover a vehicle. Visitors to the city may not have a clue whom to ring if a car is removed and the sign does not give details.

When my son lived in Cork, he and his friends used to laugh at the fact that there were people who owned a clamp and would clamp their own cars, park for the day and then return and remove the clamp. The river was full of clamps that had been thrown into it.

What happens if a person does not have money to have a clamp removed? It appears that a person must pay before the clamp is removed, but what happens when a person does not have money or a credit card? Will such people be able to pay later or in instalments after having the clamp removed? There should be a charter to assist motorists. A Senator mentioned a wait of an hour and a half for a clamp to be removed. There should be a time limit on the removal of clamps from cars. If the clamp is not removed within an hour, for example, the fine should be waived.

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