Motorists fined – while gone to Pay & Display machine

The controversy over the amount of parking tickets being given out in Tuam has taken a new twist – with motorists claiming they are being targeted while they go to the machine to purchase a ticket.

One senior official with Galway County Council said that a reasonable approach would be adopted as a number of councillors expressed the view that the ticketing situation in the town should be resolved as a matter of urgency.

Cllr Karey McHugh told the meeting that her mother was ticketed while she went to pay at a parking meter.

Members of Tuam Municipal Council were discussing proposals for the introduction of free parking which officials are totally against. It is proposed to introduce a two hour free parking window in all of the towns but Galway County Council say that this will prove very costly.

There is a proposal to introduce free parking between 9am and 11am which the Council say will cost €90,000 in lost revenue.

There is also a proposal to introduce a system in which motorists can pay 20 cent and then get two hours free parking after that – this, the Council claim, will cost the local authority a whopping €440,000.

The matter is to come before next week’s meeting of Galway County Council for a vote but officials say that if either motions are passed, then it would impact on the roads budget for all five Municipal Council areas.

But Cllr Karey McHugh, during the midst of this discussion, raised the controversial issue relating to the amount of parking tickets that have been issued in Tuam over the past year. She said that it was affecting the local economy.

“It is so bad that people who park up and go to the parking meters arrive back to find that they have been ticketed. This is just not acceptable and I have received so many complaints.

“Even my own mother was caught when she was trying to get a ticket at the parking meter. She came back to find that she had been issued with a parking ticket,” Cllr McHugh added.

Director of Services Liam Gavin admitted that there may have been a “robust” situation in Tuam but he assured the councillor that there would be a sensible approach to the parking situation in the town.

He said that if the public had any concerns, then they should bring the matter to the local area engineer.