FURY OVER PARKING TICKET BLITZ
‘Handing out parking tickets like confetti’ - this is the charge that members of the business community in Mitchelstown have levelled against the Cork County Council’s traffic department.
It has been confirmed to The Avondhu by Cork County Council, that the number of parking tickets written in Mitchelstown has doubled from 35 in May to a situation where 70 tickets were issued in June. Over the past few weeks shop owners and customers alike have reported a noticeable increase in the numbers that have received parking fines in the town.
One employee who works in the town was surprised to find a parking ticket on his car this week.
He told The Avondhu, “ I have parked in the Square and walked to my job every morning since I started working in Mitchelstown and never got a ticket. Now, all of a sudden, I find one on my car. I could understand if I was parked on the main street all day but I think free parking in the Square should be allowed for people who are shopping in Mitchelstown. The free two hour parking is great but what about those of us who work here?”
Another angry parking ticket recipient said, “I just ran into the shop for a minute and there it was when I returned. There’s a big danger that they’ll turn Mitchelstown into a ghost town. It seems to be a kind of a blitz.”
Retailer have also reported issues during the Queen of the Galtee’s Festival, when the Square was packed with funfair equipment and many customers returned to their cars to find parking tickets in place.
“We have the new road and we are trying to encourage people to come into the town and shop. This parking ticket situation isn’t helping at all. A lot of people are heading out of the town because of the parking problem in Mitchelstown.”
“We have plenty of spaces and now, that there are a lot less trucks and buses passing through, we should be encouraging more people to come in to the town and not driving them away with parking tickets, “Vicki Regan, manager of the Phone Store on Upper Cork Street told The Avondhu.
A spokesperson for Cork County Council said that there has been no change to the policy for issuing parking tickets in Mitchelstown.
“The policy is that there is free parking for the first two hours in Mitchelstown but if people are parked for longer than this or are parked illegally they run the risk of getting a ticket,” county engineer, Brendan O’Gorman, told The Avondhu.
Published:
Thursday 2nd July 6:44pm
