Clampers got €82k in fees in one street
More than 1,030 cars clamped on road last year
CLAMPERS made more than €82,000 in release fees from vehicles parked in one street last year.
More than 1,030 vehicles were clamped in Dublin’s Mespil Road, which is just 500 metres long.
An average of three motorists a day had to pay the city council €80 to get their vehicle back, netting the authority €82,640.
Now a number of city councillors are demanding a review of the capital’s clamping system, which they said was ‘unreasonable’ and ‘unfair’.
The council made €4.1million last year from clamps.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said he would have originally been in favour of clamping but now believes the system needs to be overhauled.
He said: ‘I don’t think the clamping system fulfils the need to put a bit of order on the city. It has become more about the income and penalising people and that’s unfair.
‘A lot of people get caught out on Sundays in particular. Some people believe certain streets are free after 7pm when in fact they are 24-hour zones.’
Mr Lacey said while he understood that clamping is there for a reason, it still makes it no less frustrating to see cars clamped on half-empty streets.
In all, more than 56,000 vehicles were clamped on public roads by Dublin City Council’s clampers last year. The council raked in more than €4.1million, down on €4.2million in 2016. The 2017 figures equate to an average of 153 vehicles a day.
Waterloo Road, which is near Mespil Road, generated the second largest revenues at €68,040, ahead of South Circular Road on €56,640, Gardiner Street Lower on €50,8000 and Merrion Square West on €46,160.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, only relate to council clampers and do not include details of private clamping firms.
William Keilthy, parking appeals officer for Dublin City Council, has previously argued for an increase to €130 in the release fee, which has stood at €80 since 1998, or even €160 for persistent offenders.
In 2016, he revealed how two Dublin motorists had run up bills totalling more than €4,300 each after being clamped 54 times each in four years.
In January, there was controversy when more than 20 cars on a Dublin suburban street were clamped on one occasion by a private clamping firm.
South Dock Road in Ringsend, Dublin 4, is owned by Waterways Ireland, which said it had repeatedly warned motorists about parking there.
New laws to regulate clampers came into effect last year. It put a cap of €100 on clamp release fees, amid complaints that some private firms were charging offenders up to €300.