Crackdown on abuse of Tralee disabled parking spaces

KERRY County Council and An Garda Síochána have mounted a campaign in Tralee to highlight inappropriate parking in disabled parking bays in the town as well as the inappropriate use of disabled driver permits.

As part of Operation Enable, a national multi-agency initiative, plain clothes Gardaí and Kerry County Council traffic wardens have started monitoring disabled parking bays in Tralee from 8am on Friday and continued to do so until late that evening.

The Gardaí and wardens were checking that all cars parked in disabled parking bays – of which there are 77 in Tralee – had the correct permit displayed on their windscreen and that motorists have been adhering to the law which requires that the disabled person is the motorist or passenger when a permit is being used.

By noon, five motorists had been detected parking in a disabled parking bay without the required permit; one motorist had been detected using a permit belonging to a deceased permit holder and three other incidents were being investigated .

Insp Tony Sugrue of the Garda Traffic Corps said the objective of Operation Enable was to remind motorists of the need to respect disabled parking bays and to remind disabled parking permit holders of the need to respect the conditions attached to the permits.

“Today we brought the operation to Tralee and it is envisaged that we will bring this campaign to other Kerry towns in the near future,” he said

Director of Operations, Safety and Infrastructure with Kerry County Council, Charlie O’Sullivan, said that the aim of the initiative is to ensure that people respect the laws in relation to parking in disabled parking bays; to make sure that there is sufficient parking for people with disabilities in Tralee, and to promote Tralee as a disability friendly town.

Only permits that are provided by the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) and the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland (DDAI) are legitimate for usage in disabled parking bays.

The penalty for illegally parking in a disabled bay is a fixed charge fine of €80, rising to €120 if not paid in the first 28 days and higher penalties including a court appearance can follow. Fraudulent use of a permit can lead to a fine of up to €3,000 and in some cases even imprisonment on conviction.