# Garda Checking Car Tax in Car Park



## roker (31 May 2010)

I saw a young Garda taking details of car tax etc and booking someone in a shopping centre car park when they were away shopping.
Apart from being a bit sneaky, is this not private property? Can he do this?


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## Sunny (31 May 2010)

It's not private property so I suppose he can.


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## haminka1 (31 May 2010)

it's not a private property and i see nothing sneaky about it - it's every car owner's duty to have their car taxed, insured and ncted so why shouldn't garda check it?


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## Green (31 May 2010)

haminka1 said:


> it's not a private property and i see nothing sneaky about it - it's every car owner's duty to have their car taxed, insured and ncted so why shouldn't garda check it?


 

+1 Garda just doing his job,


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## markpb (31 May 2010)

roker said:


> I saw young Garda taking details of car tax etc and booking someone in a shopping centre car park when thay were away shopping. Apart from being a bit sneaky, is this not private property? Can he do this?



To clarify what the others have said, the road traffic acts define a public road as any road owned by the state (NRA or local authority) and any other road or space which the public can access without special permission or access. Gated housing estates are about the only road space that are not covered by the RTAs.

On the upside, I guess it's better that they check cars that are already parked instead of using a checkpoint which will cause delays.


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## jhegarty (31 May 2010)

Far better than delaying everyone at a checkpoint.


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## Purple (31 May 2010)

Good to see them doing their job in a creative way.


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## carpedeum (1 Jun 2010)

Good work by the Garda. I'd like to see the Gardai doing random breathyliser testing in pub car parks after closing time. Some of us leave our cars at home, but, others continue to dodge the law.


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## callybags (1 Jun 2010)

Any moment now the "shooting fish in a barrel" brigade will be along.....


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## RonanC (1 Jun 2010)

callybags said:


> Any moment now the "shooting fish in a barrel" brigade will be along.....


 
If the "fish are in the barrel" they deserve to be shot 

Problem with Gardai in pub carparks is, if you see them there your going to walk past your car instead of getting into it and driving straight into a checkpoint.


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## redbhoy (1 Jun 2010)

YOBR said:


> +1 Garda just doing his job,


 

????? Is it a Garda's duty to collect revenue for the state? 

Gardaí Síochána- Guardians of the Peace!! hmmmmm

Is there a breach of the peace if tax goes unpaid?


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## Sunny (1 Jun 2010)

RonanC said:


> Problem with Gardai in pub carparks is, if you see them there your going to walk past your car instead of getting into it and driving straight into a checkpoint.


 
Is that not a good thing? Unless you mean they will go back for the car


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## Sunny (1 Jun 2010)

redbhoy said:


> ????? Is it a Garda's duty to collect revenue for the state?
> 
> Gardaí Síochána- Guardians of the Peace!! hmmmmm
> 
> Is there a breach of the peace if tax goes unpaid?


 
No, but there is a law broken.

Since when have they been known as the Guardians of Peace?


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## Crugers (1 Jun 2010)

Sunny said:


> No, but there is a law broken.
> 
> Since when have they been known as the Guardians of Peace?


Eh since they translated 'Guardians of Peace' into Irish.....


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## Sunny (1 Jun 2010)

Crugers said:


> Eh since they translated 'Guardians of Peace' into Irish.....


 
Oh right. Never studied Irish. Learn something new every day


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## Purple (1 Jun 2010)

Yea but they are the police and they are there to uphold the law. Not taxing your car is illegal.


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## bb12 (1 Jun 2010)

such a valuable use of resources when some little old lady is probably up the street being mugged by a druggie...


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## RonanC (1 Jun 2010)

bb12 said:


> such a valuable use of resources when some little old lady is probably up the street being mugged by a druggie...


 
Ah would ya give that one a rest please. If someone wants to drive a car on a public road without tax, the Gardai are doing their job in cracking down on this.


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## lightswitch (1 Jun 2010)

Personally I think car tax should be abolished!  

After watching Prime Time last night and the fact that the Guards wouldn't put someone forward to contribute regarding trackling child "grooming" on the internet, I also think it is a waste of police time.


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## RonanC (1 Jun 2010)

lightswitch said:


> Personally I think car tax should be abolished!
> 
> After watching Prime Time last night and the fact that the Guards wouldn't put someone forward to contribute regarding trackling child "grooming" on the internet, I also think it is a waste of police time.


 
The Gardaí didnt put someone forward because this is a matter for the Minister for Justice to comment on and not for the Gardaí.


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## lightswitch (1 Jun 2010)

Well it was stated on Prime Time that the Gardai were asked to contribute but declined to do so.  No mention was made regarding the minister!

It was quite a disturbing programme to watch, particularly for people with children.


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## starlite68 (1 Jun 2010)

straight out of templemore no doubt!!


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## Moral Ethos (1 Jun 2010)

A car park is fair game for both Gardaí and traffic wardens.


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## DublinTexas (1 Jun 2010)

What now, we have to borrow millions every day to keep this country running and people are upset that an arm of our government is actually trying to enforce a law that brings in money to the state that needs it so desperately?

Would the Gardaí better be used to protect the old lady that bb12 is worried about, sure, but for that we need money too, don’t we.


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## starlite68 (2 Jun 2010)

in a way you cant really blame the cops....if i were giving the choice of tracking down the muggers of the old lady,or writeing up a few car reg numbers for no tax...ect. i would probably choose the latter myself!


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## callybags (2 Jun 2010)

Who is this old lady that is supposedly getting mugged?

Did anyone report the crime?

I'm sure if it had been reported then the guards would prioritise their work appropriately.

Is there any evidence to the contrary?


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## RonanC (2 Jun 2010)

callybags said:


> who is this old lady that is supposedly getting mugged?
> 
> Did anyone report the crime?
> 
> ...


 
+1


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## roker (2 Jun 2010)

They are of course doing their job, but seeing that the car park is not designated a chargeable parking area like the rest of the the town, I assumed it was a private parking area.


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## Purple (2 Jun 2010)

roker said:


> They are of course doing their job, but seeing that the car park is not designated a chargeable parking area like the rest of the the town, I assumed it was a private parking area.



It's a public place


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## ashambles (2 Jun 2010)

The problem with this is Gardai aren't supposed to be like clamp happy private car park attendants. I see it as a bit demeaning for them and a further sign that the good relationship Irish Gardai have always had with the public is changing. 

Stopping a car while the driver is available means that problems such as a tax disc in the post, delayed, accidentally stuck behind an old one, car turns out to be a clone etc. can all be discovered and dealt with.

While fine if someone has a disk more than a couple months out of date then sympathy would be low, my guess is that in practice out of tax cars will tend to be only a few weeks out. Unless someone never pays car tax there's no benefit to not paying as you always have to pay the tax since it was last taxed.

Using car parks means the driver gets no chance to justify themselves also the Garda will probably use the car registration database as the fine address, so anyone who's moved and not updated their address since buying their car isn't going to receive the fine.

Unless they attach a notice to the car on the spot - which I don't think they do - then the evildoer has no way of knowing a fine is due. The fines often get misdirected, the summons will eventually find it's way.

So it's much more likely to turn into a summons with all the expense and time wasting of a court appearance. Chances are quite high that any money brought in via fines will be lost many times over with the wasting of workers time in the courtroom.

Also there's an official period, 9 days or something where drivers can have an out of date disc. There's no guarantee a garda in a carpark to use this leniency as many will expect people who receive a fine out of the blue to just pay it regardless of valid excuses.


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## Moral Ethos (3 Jun 2010)

There is no grace period.


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## starlite68 (3 Jun 2010)

Moral Ethos said:


> There is no grace period.


 not totally sure...but i think there is a grace period.


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## micmclo (3 Jun 2010)

There is zero grace so once the tax expires you're un-taxed. The 1 month grace mentioned on the renewal form refers exclusively to paying arrears. If you pay the tax within the month following expiry you won't be charged arrears


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## lightswitch (3 Jun 2010)

There is a grace period, if not in theory, its certainly applied in practice.  I would be one of those people that lets their car tax slip from time to time.  Before anyone goes mad, I pay my arrears

According to the Gardai that have stopped me (several times I might add) they can take the car off you once you have gone over 3 months.  You can also pay your arrears, up to 3 months on line.  

The last Garda that stopped me when my car was well over due its tax told me to get it taxed straight away as I would only be getting hassle from people like him if I didn't.  It was a really nice approach particularly as they had a lifting lorry on the side of the road and could easily have taken it.  Little gestures like this imo make for excellent Garda / Public relations.  I was actually so impressed that I have made an extra effort since to keep it taxed up to date since.

Moral of the story, be nice to the Gardai and they will, in my experience be nice back to you.  They have a very difficult job to do.  Giving out tickets in car parks (and I do understand it is a public place) will only increase the amount of bad feeling towards them.  

Where abouts was this car park located OP?


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## Moral Ethos (3 Jun 2010)

Once your tax is out 60 days, you will be walking home. 

Pay your dues people and quit moaning.


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## csirl (3 Jun 2010)

> Using car parks means the driver gets no chance to justify themselves also the Garda will probably use the car registration database as the fine address, so anyone who's moved and not updated their address since buying their car isn't going to receive the fine.


 
The Gardai have access to the car tax database and so know who has/hasnt paid their tax regardless of whether the disc is on display.

Even so, its an offence not to display tax a tax disc even if your tax is up to date.


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## starlite68 (3 Jun 2010)

Moral Ethos said:


> Once your tax is out 60 days, you will be walking home.
> 
> Pay your dues people and quit moaning.


 i think its in fact 90 days...and as for walking home....that would be up to the garda on the day!


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## Moral Ethos (3 Jun 2010)

Nope. The law was amended. 60 days is limit.


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## starlite68 (3 Jun 2010)

in that case i guess its only a matter of time before some pen pushing bright spark amendes it down to 30 days.


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## Moral Ethos (3 Jun 2010)

Yep. That is for certain.


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## Rois (4 Jun 2010)

Perhaps this is why they didn't want to appear on Primetime:

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-new...porn-garda-is-still-serving-after-seven-year/


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## starlite68 (5 Jun 2010)

noting new there then!!


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