Last night.
Troy writes:
I was wondering if your readers could help put my mind at ease. Last night at 19:10 I parked down by the [Grand] Canal [Dublin 2]. After having a quick look at the sign to see if my car was safe from the dreaded clampers I concluded it was and moved on to get a bite to eat. Only to return to a horrible large yellow triangle on one of my wheels!
I would love to hear what your readers make of it? Because I’m pretty sure those signs completely contradict each other. To make it even more fun the only way to appeal the €80 fine is to POST a letter of appeal. They have a very efficient automated service for getting the money off us over the phone and they use POST for appeals. Could they be any less subtle…
Anyone?
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All about the time! You can park there from 9am to 7pm, but after 7pm only trucks are allowed park there to use it as a loading bay.
With an exception made for coaches outside of 7am to 7pm. Pretty self explanatory I would have thought.
coaches only after 7pm til 7am, haha mister mister u messed that comment up a bit. think you can see his confusion after you did the same thing just now.
Loading Bay is to the right of the signage. Should have parked there. It’s relatively easy to understand.
If he was parked on that side of the canal it was Dublin 4 not Dublin 2.
Oooh. Zing!
Sorry I pedantic about my Dublin geography… its a problem
“It’s”. Sorry, I’m pedantic about my apostrophes.
No parking (except coaches) between 19:00 and 07:00
7am – 7pm rather.
top sign says you can park between 7am and 7pm, pay and display.
middle signs says you *can’t* park there 7pm to 7am, unless you’re a coach.
you parked there at 7:10pm.
seems clear to me?
LOL
Where’s the confusion?
There’s pay and display parking there from 7am-7pm and no parking there except for buses from 7pm to 7am?
Look at the times Troy…
TROY!
It’s permit parking 7am to 7pm and then from 7pm until 7am there’s no parking except for coaches, don’t see any contradiction, it’s a bit confusing on first glance with all the signs on top of each other is the only thing, what are your grounds for appeal?
It’s literally the exception that proves the rule
Simple enough to figure out. You can pay to park there between 7am and 7pm. Between 7pm and 7am parking is allowed for coaches only.
Learn to read Troy. Nothing confusing there.
My understanding of the sign, having studied it for about 5 minutes (!) is that there is Pay and Display between 07.00 and 19.00 and then no parking AT ALL from 19.00 through to 07.00 Mon-Sat.
Absolutely crazy if that is the case. Although I lived around the corner from there a few years back and seem to recall every second car parked there would be tagged with those yellow beauties – I didn’t have a car back then so never bothered to check what the parking rules were.
and then no parking AT ALL from 19.00 through to 07.00 Mon-Sat.
“Except coaches”
Pretty sure it is only a part of it that has no parking except for coaches as well. The coaches only part has large Coaches Only in yellow writing on it. The amount of people you see getting clamped there is quite impressive.
I think it’s the arrows that our fearless reader is missing. Two point left, one points right, which side were you on?
This is the question, sign implies it’s ok to park to the right (Loading bay until 7pm)
To the left, coaches only
I guarantee it.
Yep, arrows are the key to determining right or wrong.
Were you driving a coach, if not, then you shouldn’t have parked there….
You must struggle in life if you found those signs contradictory.
I’m with Troy. The signs are unnecessarily confusing.
I got clamped in similar circumstances – but one sign faced one way on the pole and the other sign faced the other way. I only read one sign and hurried away.
I smell a money spinner.
On Jervis St? Close to 600 infringements in 2014. Enough to pay at least one clamper for the year when they get €80 a pop. Fantastic moneyspinner.
Yes – Jervis st (beside the Morrison)
This goes back maybe 8 year though. I cant believe it hasnt been sorted.
I also cant believe that those signs arent deliberately facing the opposite way
If you were to the right of the signs, then you would have grounds to appeal. If you were to the left, they got you fair and square. I’m assuming you were to the left?
I think this is the stretch of road along the canal on Mespil Road opposite the Mespil Hotel. The is a hot spot for clampers as people think they can park cars there after 19:00. Unfortunately they are wrong, it is coach parking only from 19:00 to 07:00 Monday to Saturday. I remember having an argument with a friend who wanted to park there when we were going for dinner last year on Good Friday. I eventually persuaded him not to park there. To keep me happy he moved up the road a bit. But didn’t admit I was right. When we came back from dinner, there were 6 cars clamped in the coach parking section. Yes, I did feel a bit smug!
That’s what I thought. You can see it clearly on street view with the loading bay to the right. There are more signs down a couple of spaces that reinforce the no parking after 7.
This is across from the Mespill Hotel, right? When there’s a game on in the Aviva, clampers make their monthly targets in a few hours on that stretch of road.
hunger + wishful thinking = €80 .Take your medicine and learn from your mistake. You wont get a refund so don’t waste your time. I’ve seen the standard council response letter. You wont get a refund.
Is there anything to be said for another sign?
First sign: Monday to Saturday from 7am – 7pm is permit/paid parking.
Second sign: Monday to Saturday 7pm – 7am no parking *except coaches*
Third sign: See over there. No parking for anybody. Loading only.
I’m not sure where the confusion is. Did the arrows make it unclear as to where you could park?
For future ref:
If you see 3 different no parking signs and you don’t understand them, park elsewhere just in case.
This.
You forgot the rest of your sentence.
Yesterday there was what looked like an all-out blitz by the clampers in Dublin 2 and along the Quays, never saw so many cars clamped, they must be hitting revenue targets early in the year, bonuses to be got.
very aggravating getting clamped, especially on Hatch street, next to unmarked Garda cars double-yellowing and 4-wheel-pavementing…
Just don’t park there ever.
The clampers have a massive jib for that stretch.
If you study all the signs carefully, as readers have pointed out, you will understand that parking for coaches only after 7pm.
Troys problem is understandable for those of us that are typical humans. The rest of you are just wonderful, and will never get clamped.
Issue 1: You have to read 2 signs and combine the results to know the rules . Typically, parking guidance is provided on one sign.
Issue 2: In most of the city a sign saying pay and display from 7am to 7pm implies that parking is free from 7pm.
I think that this is unreasonable sineage, I expect that people get regularly caught out here and as a result, the signs should be changed for clarity. Simply putting the info on one sign would help.
Maybe they should have an extra sign just for Troy?
It could be a special sign?
A classic case of someone who can’t just shut their mind up for five seconds and read something properly.
Hush the crazy brain, calm down and pay attention.
AFFS
Signage very clear, you complete muppet. What a waste of time !
Troy McClure, you may remember him from such great Broadsheet posts as… ‘How To Read Roadsigns’ and ‘Parking In The City Tonight’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtIpdvPDXQU
Thanks for all the input readers. Pretty much re-affirmed my thoughts that this signage is inadequate for its purpose unless that purpose is to sting a bunch of motorist to generate some cash money.
If it was for safety I’m sure they would put a bit more thought into it being easily and QUICKLY readable.
I do accept that I was in the wrong but the issue I have is that the sign or SIGNS are crap and should be rethought.
Ps. Trolls and smart asses go do one! ;-)
The signage isn’t inadequate just because you didn’t understand it? There are two signs that notify you acceptable parking practice to the left, which are fairly easy to understand.
No one likes being clamped, but if you’d paid more attention it might not have happened.
Yes Troy, the clampers wait in the long grass just for you.
It’s a national scandal so it is.
Don’t waste your time appealing.
I used to work in Dublin 4 and there was an area near my office that was free every day from 2pm onwards … except for the week of the Horse Show. At the beginning of that week, they quietly put a sticker over the parking sign to say it was now pay and display until 7pm.
So not only are you expected to read the unnecessarily complicated signs, you are also expected to read them every single day just in case somebody has come along and changed them overnight.
Was clamped, appealed it, and suffice it to say I’m still down €80. So I don’t rate your chances.
what did you have to eat?
So it seems your ability to read signs is equally as good as your ability to interpret 50 odd comments. Don’t see how you could conclude that the general consensus was that the signage is inadequate – unless of course everyone who said otherwise is a troll and therefore the couple who said it was must be the only valid opinions. Fess up you got it wrong end of
This is as clear as mud. Signs are meant to be read at a glance, not after ten minutes of chin scratching. Mind you, this is from the same clowns who wanted to remove roads from signs altogether. What do councils do anyways? Apart from keeping the employment in the family I mean. They really would put the civil service to shame on that score.
I’ve been clamped there before and felt pretty foolish about it. The only time I’ve been clamped in ten years. I worked around the corner and would reiterate the comments that have been made. In my opinion it is pretty difficult to figure out the bus/coach thing. There is somebody clamped there every night so people are clearly making the same mistake all the time. The clampers live around there even taking lunch breaks on Burlington road outside where I used to work.
Also the level of smugness on here from people who figured it out from the comfort of their own home is astonishing. I for one think that when you see the top sign you immediately think you can park there. That is the case with every other one of those signs in the city that I am aware of. In general, I don’t tend to look for a sign that may contradict the one I’ve just seen when parking.
And yet one doesn’t actually contradict the other!
No, you can’t park there. Read the sign.
Ah bless..
So where d’ya go for grub anyway
Somewhere nice around there is there?
If you look at the printed words on the road it says “Coaches only”. Just don’t take the chance!
That section of road is the most clamped area in Dublin.