Average of €6K a year in disabled bay parking fines

Cavan County Council has issued more than €18K in three years in fines to drivers parking in disabled spaces.

A Freedom of Information request from The Celt, answered by the council, shows that, in total for all parking offences, fines of €229,480 were issued between the years 2013 and 2015 with €119,860 listed as outstanding.

Fines for parking in a disabled parking bay incur an €80 penalty, while failing to exhibit a tax disc costs the motorist €60 with all other offences at €40.
Last year, 74 people were fined for parking in a disabled space activating €5,920 in fines, 20 of which were cancelled, worth €1,600, leaving €2,240 paid on 28 fines with 26 outstanding.

In all, for 2015, 1,433 motorists were initially fined by the council, amounting to €60,280; 167 of those were cancelled, 567 were paid in €23,800 and 691 were left unpaid, amounting to €28,680.

Four-hundred and twenty-nine people were fined for parking in a prohibited area, 177 were fined for being parked in a 'time prohibited’, 12 for a 'manner prohibited’, one for not paying a fee, 297 for not displaying a ticket, 435 for parking in a carpark without a ticket displayed and eight for parking a 'vehicle other than a vehicle of specified class’.

In 2014, 1,842 individual fines were issued, leaving an outstanding balance of €43,700 unpaid while in 2013 2,228 fines were issued worth €92,160, but at the year’s end €47,480 was outstanding.
Over the three-year period 233 people were fined for parking in disabled spaces - with 86 listed as unpaid at year’s end.
Parking a vehicle in a carpark without displaying a valid ticket remains the most common offence with 1,613 fines issued, followed by parking on-street without a ticket, at 1,468 fines issued.
In 2013, 13 people ended up in court over fines, six people featured in 2014 with none summonsed in 2015.