Mystery of the broken meter
A DEGREE of mystery surrounds the destruction of a parking meter on Pig Market Hill on Enniscorthy. Some time around Wednesday of last week, the meter was seemingly snapped off and all that remains is a stump with pieces of broken plastic sticking out.
The parking meters around town are made of sturdy stuff, therefore the immediate thought that comes to mind is an attempted smash and grab for the money inside. This doesn’t appear to be the case, however, as gardaí said that they have no information of that nature.
Local independent councillor John O’Rourke says that the broken meter was first brought to his attention by a member of the public and that the top half had initially been left lying in the grass on the hill before being taken away by council staff.
‘I don’t think the money box part was removed,’ said Cllr O’Rourke. ‘And anyway, those meters are emptied on a regular basis so it wouldn’t be worthwhile really for anyone to break into them. What I’d say is most likely is that maybe a truck came along and hit off it, because of where it’s positioned on the side of the road, knocking it into the grass or something.’
Another theory is that, while clearing snow, maybe a digger or a tractor knocked the parking metre over.
Either way, people who regularly park in the area probably weren’t too disappointed to find it gone when they went to put coins into it during the week!