Motorists parked in an alleyway in Dublin’s Docklands had a nasty surprise on Monday, when they returned to find every car on South Dock Road clamped.
At one stage, 21 cars in a row on the stretch of graffiti-strewn laneway near Ringsend Bridge were immobilised.
The laneway is owned by Waterways Ireland, which said it had repeatedly warned motorists about parking there. It leads to an operations yard, a private residence and emergency access to apartments and residences nearby.
It offers a route by foot to Hanover Quay where there is much work going on in building office spaces. This means South Dock Road was a very popular free parking spot for construction workers.
Motorists were furious when they arrived back on Monday to find their vehicles had been clamped by Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems (NCPS). One took a sledge hammer to the clamp and drove off with it in the back of the car.
Local resident Terry Thorpe looked out the window at noon to find the clampers had swooped on every car parked in the laneway.
‘No parking’
“It was unbelievable. There are signs on the wall that say ‘no parking’. They [the motorists] were warned before, but they didn’t pay any attention to it,” he said.
There were no parking signs in three places along the laneway on Monday when The Irish Times visited, with a man saying these were put up last week.
“The problem is they were parking on the road and on the bend so Waterways Ireland couldn’t get in and out so they employed a private clamping firm to look after it for them,” he said. “If there was an emergency, how could a fire engine or an ambulance get by while there are cars parked there?”
“Despite repeated warnings and leafleting in relation to no parking on the laneway, on occasion over 40 cars have parked illegally blocking emergency and operational access,” Waterways Ireland said.
“Waterways Ireland has received complaints including from the apartment management company. Last week a contractor, operating on behalf of Waterways Ireland put up signs warning that ‘no parking’ would be enforced and today enforcement began.”
