Many know that sinking feeling when arriving back to find their car clamped, and it was one experienced frequently by drivers, particularly in Dublin, last year.
More than 56,000 vehicles were clamped in the capital in 2014, resulting in more than €4.2 million in fees to Dublin City Council.
In one area, Merrion Square West, an average of two vehicles were clamped every day, making it Dublin’s biggest clamping blackspot for the second year running.
Some 99.6 per cent of the parking enforcements issued in this location last year were due to drivers not having a valid parking permit.
In the second most clamped area in Dublin, Mespil Road, 720 vehicles were clamped last year. However, in this location 42 per cent of offences related to cars being parked in spaces reserved for buses and coaches.
Top five
Rounding off Dublin’s top five clamping black spots in 2014 were Ormond Quay Upper, where 97 per cent of clamped vehicles did not have a valid permit; Pearse Street, where over two-thirds of the clamps were for parking on a clearway, and Waterloo Road, where four out of five enforcements related to vehicles found parked in a bus lane during operating hours.
Unsurprisingly, the colder months of October, November, January and February saw the most clamping, while the summer months saw fewer offences.
Conversely, December saw the lowest number of parking enforcements, presumably due to a big reduction in the number of cars using the city centre over the Christmas period.
Vehicles were most likely to get clamped on a Thursday in 2014, whereas Sunday, a day on which on-street parking is free in many areas, was the least likely day for drivers to get caught out.
The total number of valid parking enforcements issued by Dublin City Council last year was 56,601, a slight rise on the 56,285 clamps and parking fines issued a year previously.
Differing costs
Despite this, the revenue raised from parking fees fell to €4.24 million last year compared with €4.32 million in 2013, a discrepancy which a council spokesman said was due to differing costs incurred by impounded vehicles.
Although the basic clamping fee in 2014 was €80, in instances where a vehicle was impounded (an action taken 24 hours after the clamp is applied) the driver is liable for further €80 release fee and €35 for each night the vehicle remains impounded.
Dublin City Council has raised an average of €24.2 million from paid on-street parking each year for the past four years.
Nationwide
Local authorities across the State collected more than €88 million from parking charges and fines in 2014, according to figures from the Department of the Environment.
Expenditure on parking services amounted to €47.8 million.
City councils collected significantly more than county councils. Parking revenue for Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford was €45.3 million in 2014 with expenditure of €20.5 million.
The State’s county councils brought in €15.3 million against expenditure of €12.4 million.
The borough councils – when they existed – of Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford collected €7.9 million with an expenditure of €3.1 million. Similarly, town councils raised €20 million and spent €11.6 million.