Longford Councillor motions for action on illegal parking in disabled bays

A motion to allow the public report illegal parking in designated disabled parking bays received unanimous support at the December meeting of Longford County Council.

Cllr David Cassidy's motion sought to implement a text alert system to inform the local authority about the abuse of disabled parking bays.

Cllr Cassidy said: “This system would inform the council about vehicles parked illegally in designated disabled parking bays, so that fines could be issued where the blue badge, Disabled Persons Parking Card, is not displayed.”

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The motion by the Fianna Fáil councillor suggested that signage should be in place at each parking bay throughout the county with the text alert number for people to report breaches to Longford County Council.

Cllr Cassidy said a QR code could allow people to submit photographic evidence to the local authority along with the registration of the offending vehicle.

“It's something that has annoyed me for years, to see people parking in disabled bays,” he said, “The text could go to the traffic department in the Market Square, they could then forward it to traffic wardens or the Garda Station.

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“It's a good way to protect the elderly and vulnerable in society. A lot of people would feel uncomfortable about confronting someone who is depriving an elderly person of a parking spot.”

Cllr Martin Monaghan (FF) seconded the motion, adding: “If you did challenge someone on it, you are likely to get a mouthful of abuse from the person doing it, because they see nothing wrong with it. The reality is that you are affecting the most vulnerable members of society.

“The bays are based primarily near chemists, and places where they are most needed. Unauthorised use is an awful inconvenience for blue badge holders,” he said.

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Cllr Seamus Butler (FF), concurred: “If people get fined for using the bays then they will think twice about doing it.”

Cllr Pádraig McNamara (FG) said the motion addresses a significant issue: “I have a bay outside the Post Office in Granard. It's abused no end. People park there, leaving their car, with no badges on them. It's something that should be enforced.”

A number of other councillors spoke on the issue, highlighting that it's an issue across the county and the importance of penalising offenders. Cllr Pat O'Toole said the blue badge bays in Ballymahon were recently re-painted and voiced the hope that they would be reserved for registered users.

Cllr Paraic Brady suggested that bye-laws may need to be amended at SPC level to allow for the motion, and flagged that potential GDPR issues would have to be examined: “But it's still an excellent motion,” he told members.

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Council Chief Executive, Paddy Mahon, said the local authority will examine how to take action on Cllr Cassidy's motion: “We will ask the transport team to look at it to see what issues may arise. It's definitely something we can look at to see how best we can effectively progress with it. It is about public engagement on behaviour that is no longer acceptable.”