Is it illegal to park at a Bus Stop

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MandaC

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I am not one for public transport, but going out tonight and not wanting to take the car, decided to bus it. Went to bus stop, there parked right beside the bus stop is a huge jeep belonging to our recently elected town councillor, complete with mugshot, contact details, etc.

The way he was parked would not leave enough room for the bus to pull into the bus stop which had been marked off and leave the bus on the road blocking traffic while people got on and off.

Anyway was annoyed so took a snap with my camera phone just as the gent happens to return to jeep. He saw me and approached me - I said it is not on to park at a bus stop, he says first "report me then" in a dismissive tone.

Then he obviously has second thoughts and thinks, maybe she will, so says there is an issue that there is no parking in the town and that I should report him so that some action might be taken!!!

I said that even so, he should be setting an example and he has no business breaking the law. People cant just park where they want because there is no parking. I also said we have had enough of politicians breaking the law and he was not taking that tack last week when he was out canvessing.

Just wondering - Is it actually illegal to park at a bus stop? It was one of those where it is cut out of the road with broken lines (kind of like a loading bay)?

I know it was not a hanging offence or anything, but did not like his attitude. Kind of like, I am elected now, I can do what I like. Sod the rest of you on public transport.
 
You will get a ticket usually if parked at a bus stop. I don't think his attitude had anything to do with being a councillor as it is seen every day of the week that people constantly park in the bus stop at least in Limerick anyway. He was probably a bit taken aback to see someone recording him in public, I wouldn't be too impressed myself to be honest.
 
You did right. He should be setting an example and not doing this type of thing.

Slightly off topic but I was standing at a bus stop some years ago in Dame Street. It was bucketing down and the stop was very busy. Not enough room for everyone there to use an umbrella. A smart alec builder doing repairs in a nearby shop decided to stop at the bus stop because it made access for him and tools easier. This meant that the bus could not pull in to the stop and anyone accessing the bus had to go out past the van.

An observant motorbike garda came along and made the builder move the van and gave everyone on the queue a wave. Fair dues to him as it made things a lot easier for us.
 
Fair play to the Garda for noticing and bothering to do something (most don't) but he should have ticketed him for the offence. From speaking to the staff in the traffic control center in Dublin, the Gardai almost never ticket people in bus stops so every day, the same people block same the bus stops. There needs to be a harder line taken against this - it badly affects bus operations, it prevents the use of middle doors, it can stop disabled people using that stop and it blocks traffic because the bus is forced to unload in the middle of the road.it's not the victimless minor offence the Gardai seem to think it is.
 
MandaC said:
I am not one for public transport, but going out tonight and not wanting to take the car, decided to bus it. Went to bus stop, there parked right beside the bus stop is a huge jeep belonging to our recently elected town councillor, complete with mugshot, contact details, etc.

The way he was parked would not leave enough room for the bus to pull into the bus stop which had been marked off and leave the bus on the road blocking traffic while people got on and off.

Anyway was annoyed so took a snap with my camera phone just as the gent happens to return to jeep. He saw me and approached me - I said it is not on to park at a bus stop, he says first "report me then" in a dismissive tone.

Then he obviously has second thoughts and thinks, maybe she will, so says there is an issue that there is no parking in the town and that I should report him so that some action might be taken!!!

I said that even so, he should be setting an example and he has no business breaking the law. People cant just park where they want because there is no parking. I also said we have had enough of politicians breaking the law and he was not taking that tack last week when he was out canvessing.

Just wondering - Is it actually illegal to park at a bus stop? It was one of those where it is cut out of the road with broken lines (kind of like a loading bay)?

I know it was not a hanging offence or anything, but did not like his attitude. Kind of like, I am elected now, I can do what I like. Sod the rest of you on public transport.
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Report him - and if the Gardai aren't too bothered, name and shame him - there is a thread over on politics.ie with some nice pics of an FF candidate in Kilkenny who seems to be a serial inconsiderate parker, so you could add them onto that thread.
 
I would definitely name and shame him. The cheek of him to just say 'report me then'. Does he think he's above the law? He should be setting an example.
 
markpb said:
it badly affects bus operations, it prevents the use of middle doors
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I thought all the middle doored buses were no more. I much preferred them to the fancy new fangled ones that they have now. Glad to hear that they're still being used!
 
gianni said:
I thought all the middle doored buses were no more. I much preferred them to the fancy new fangled ones that they have now. Glad to hear that they're still being used!
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The older buses (such as on the 13 and 17a) still have them but DB stopped buying double door buses because the Gardai didn't enforce parking rules.
 
gianni said:
I much preferred them to the fancy new fangled ones that they have now. Glad to hear that they're still being used!
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I guess you're not using a wheelchair or pushing a buggy!

OP - Why not report him to your local paper? They generally like this sort of thing, especially with the photo to go with it.
 
Just have to figure out how to get the photo from mobile phone onto computer!

I am just thinking about the incident now. He just kept starting at me - did not know if it was serious or a wind up!
 
From the Rules of the Road (page 116)

"You must not stop or park.....
.......within an area marked as a bus stop or taxi rank - white roadway markings line the areas, and, in addition show the word "BUS" at a bus stop...."
 
MandaC said:
Just have to figure out how to get the photo from mobile phone onto computer!

I am just thinking about the incident now. He just kept starting at me - did not know if it was serious or a wind up!
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What kind of phone do you have? Do you have a USB cable to go with it? If you're stuck, you can send the photo to me by text and I'll email it back to you.
 
I have a Nokia E51 and I do have the cables etc that came with it in the box - so should be able to get it onto PC. More pressing problem at the moment though PC crashed at home (blue screen) and it would appear thats the end of it.

Oh dear.
 
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