Council accused of double standards over parking fines

The local authority stands accused of double-standards in its application of parking bye-laws amid claims a certain ‘class’ of motorist in the city are exempt from parking fines.

It was alleged this week that a city councillor, and two members of Galway City Partnership – whose directors include officials and elected members of Galway City Council – received ‘special treatment’ and avoided a fine for parking without a Pay and Display permit.

An ‘ordinary’ motorist who parked beside them, also without a Pay and Display permit, received a parking ticket.

But the Galway man claims that three other cars parked beside him, near Bohermore, did not get penalised even though they didn’t have pay and display tickets either.

“I parked in a Pay and Display area immediately adjacent to three other vehicles. None of these, including mine, had displayed a valid parking disc. When I returned, mine was the only vehicle to have received a Fixed Charge Notice. Of the other three cars, one belonged to a city councillor and had a City Hall parking permit displayed. The other two had notes on the dashboards stating that the owners worked in Galway City Partnership,” the motorist said.

The man, who preferred to remain anonymous, wrote a letter to Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, to highlight the anomaly.

“I am not a contrarian protestor seeking to avoid liability for a fine that is due,” he said.

“I have received a number of parking fines over the years and have had no issue in paying these promptly. However, my willingness to pay is contingent on fines being applied fairly and systematically.”

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune