Castlebar clamping causes fury on Facebook

CLAMPING BY LAW PROPOSAL ?Cllr Michael Kilcoyne

Castlebar clamping causes fury on Facebook


Mayo News readers comment on Castlebar clamping

Áine Ryan

FURIOUS parkers whose cars were clamped in Castlebar have vented their frustration to The Mayo News after our front page story last week revealed problems pertaining to clamping in the county town.
The front-page story revealed how one pregnant woman, who was in the early stages of labour, discovered that her car had been clamped in the car park, known locally as Boots car park. She was forced to pay a release fee of €120 before she could drive away.
After Sinn Féin Cllr Thérèse Ruane told a Municipal District council meeting about the incident, councillors expressed their concerns and confirmed that the local authority was  ‘actively pursuing’ a suspected breach of the planning laws at another Castlebar car park.
In a flood of furious commentary on The Mayo News Facebook page, readers expressed their frustration about the clamping regime.
“We got delayed in a shop in castlebar and were 20 minutes late. We got clamped beside boots and it was our fault. But we expected the declamping to be 50/60 euro. Handed over 120 euro. That’s the equivalent of parking there 24/7 for 5 weeks...all for being 20 mins late on a 1 euro ticket. End of our shopping in castlebar and won’t be spending a cent ever again in the tf royal hotel/theatre,” wrote reader, Karen Keane.
Mayo News reader, Mairéad O’Malley, paid for one hour and returned to her car with ten minutes to spare.
“As I was getting into my car, a van pulled up and blocked me from driving out of my car parking space. A man jumped out, ran over to me and told me he had come to clamp me! He was so rude and aggressive. I explained that I had a ticket on my car. He looked at the ticket on the dash and accused me of only putting a ticket on my car after he had spotted that I didn’t have a ticket.
“I found myself explaining to him that when I parked my car, I went directly to the machine to buy a ticket and then i told him where I went after that! I didn’t even realise they had resident clampers hiding in the car park. Clearly he had confused me with another car owner or else he was on some sort of power trip. I don’t mind paying €1 to park in Boots car park, but I will never park there again after the ignorance and aggression of that man,” she wrote.
The recent Castlebar council meeting passed a by-law proposed by Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne outlawing clamping in the Castlebar Municipal District.
Mr Seamus Sutcliffe, of Islandeady Properties and Lansdowne Francs, a group that acquired the Royal Quarter retail area, earlier this year, declined to comment yesterday when contacted by The Mayo News.