Parking fine -Newry

My daughter was in The Quays shopping centre car park in Newry recently and incurred a parking fine of GBP50. She was parked there on business from 8.30am to 1.30pm and did not realise that there was a charge - as you don't.
It was from a company called Euro Car Parks based in London. Given that she she is from 'the south', does she still have to pay it? - is it enforceable?

She emailed them in London and they replied that she should sent the ticket to themselves in London for review.

Any ideas?

Unlucky. In the 'old' days if you got a parking ticket down the north you just threw it away and if Northern Ireland drivers got one in Dundalk ditto. But Dundalk town council now 'sell' their unpaid Northern Ireland parking tickets to a company in London and they in turn collect them -lawfully and legally from the Northern resident. But it does warn them of this on the ticket and only if they don't pay the €18 parking fine.The London company in turn screw them big time. £50 seems to be a pretty steep fine for parking. who employs this euro park crowd - the owners of the Quays or Newry City local authority? I would have thought that the most a parking ticket would could would be around £15 and if unpaid might rise to £50. I dont go near the quays now ( cause of all the dubs) but never ever heard of parking charges for that car park before. Noticed last saturday that there was a little car parking booth in the car park in Monaghan street which wasn't there before either. Dunnes charge into the car park at their supermarket but not at their hardware. Argos is free and so is tk max. Buttercrane was free but I dont know any more either. The car park between the river and canal is not free but not dear either. still £50 seems out of order for just parking. Southern Reg obviously?

wait until the final demand comes in before you pay it, that will take months..

some councils dont issue final reminders - dundalk being one. if you dont pay they take you to court. dont know about newry

cuchulainn said:

some councils dont issue final reminders - dundalk being one. if you dont pay they take you to court. dont know about newry

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I don't think its clear from the original post that this is anything to do with Newry council, the fine was issued by private company operating a shopping centre car park. Any fine would surely be a civil matter, they may be able to go to court and get a judgement against you (whether it would be cost effective is debatable) which I imagine would be unenforceable in Ireland anyway.

Council fines would be different as they would fall under Traffic regulations.

Update: Googling brought up this [broken link removed]for the UK. It doesn't explicitly say what the ultimate sanction is, but section 3.4 refers to obtaining a court judgement.
Section 1.1 refers to private companies obtaining vehicle keeper info from the DVLA to "enforce parking contraventions on private property", I doubt that a private company would be able to get similar access to the Irish licensing info for something which occurred in another jurusdiction, so how would they ever know who even owns the car? However Euro Car Parks do also operate in Ireland so maybe they do have access, however I think use of their access (if any) in these circumstances might constitute an abuse of the data.

Thanks for the opinion from Dam099 and the history from Cuchulainn. I must check the next time I am in the Long Walk Shopping Centre in Dundalk to see what the policy is on Northern drivers and parking fines - though I have a feeling that they just clamp them and tow them away!
Maybe my daughter has been lucky.


I will keep you informed

cuchulainn said:

never ever heard of parking charges for that car park before.

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Like yourself cuchulainn it's news to me. It must be fairly recent because I'd be up there regularly, the most recent visit being a few weeks ago and I either didn't notice or was very lucky.

No mention of parking on their website.

Pay and display I presume??

The Dept of the Environment in Shannon will not give out the details of a motor car to any third party. The will only supply info to local authouritys and the Gardai and other designated bodies.

I used to be a traffic warden in the east coast and I can tell you that getting the info out of shannon was a tough process as all your authourisation details and password were needed before they would give you the reg owner.

jas: thats a good idea. long walk is private so comparable to the quays. See the new shopping centre in dundalk opening soon has pay parking. think its the town council in this case. Superquinn has a 3 hour free limit and after that you pay.still think €75 for a parking ticket is expensive. my wife was in newry last week and parked at the quays and didn't pay or notice any place to pay for parking. maybe they have a time limit but its definitely news to me.

I like it seems the rest of you didnt know that you had to pay to park in the Quays, i was there only friday morning for about an hour and didnt pay or get a fine.

Hi,


I have emailed the Quays in Newry and apparently the first 4 hours of parking is free. After that one must pay !!

Was in Newry about 2 weeks ago and never saw any signs indicating that there were only 4 free hours.

Jasconius,

What time was on your daughters ticket. If there were 4 free hours and she parked there at 8.30 then she should not have got a ticket until after 12.30. If the ticket was timed earlier than 12.30 then I feel she would have a good case for getting the ticket cancelled.

Hi Joe

She was there I think, from 8.30am to about 1.30pm. She tells me she was parked near to the entrance to Sainsbury's supermarket - nowhere near the garage or traffic lights. While I am not that familiar with the Quays (this is women's territory - more of a B&Q man myself) I do not know anyone who is aware of the Parking restrictions there!

We are still waiting for a reply from them.

just noticed this post,can anyone update me on the parking situtation in newry at the present moment,have been there a few times in the last 6 months.i use to park in buttercrane,but usually park at poundstretcher/peacocks,last week i got a warning notice on the w/screen that shoppers are only allowed 2 hrs parking or will be clamped.never noticed this sign before,so watch out.its from euro car parks.there is no choice of pay and display.i,d like to find out who employs them,because instead of shoppers boosting their economy,it will just go downhill.so if you know about buttercrane,argos/tmax and the quays carparks please let me know.

PPC=Private Parking Company

Unenforceable Invoices is what they issue. Ignore them.

I was in Newry today, southern reg car. I am a frequent visitor, and usually park at quays, or tk maxx car park. Anyway parked at the small car park to the side of poundstretcher. Anyway went of to shops in vicinity and offloaded shopping before going to quays. I usually take care over but thought it'd be packed and hassle so walked over. Came back and got in car , noticed something on windscreen. A parking ticket- I never noticed signs for 2 hour parking there until obviously then!!! Parking fine is £70 but £50 if paid before end of July. According to their time on ticket that I arrived into park at, I was away from car for 3 hours.
While, I understand that I overstayed my time, I wasn't aware of time limit as didn't notice signs....even though they are there as I was obviously aware after!!.....usually look for pay parking terminals. £70 is very steep as well, to be paid to London company euro car park.....I have been made painfully aware of my mistake but something like £10 would be fairer particulary in recessionary times as people shop up in Newry due to it been cheaper for a lot of things as I wasn't blocking an entry, there was empty car spaces near me as cars are coming and going.

Has anyone have experience of getting fines in Newry, what are the penalties?

I would bin it and forget about it. They won't be able to obtain your details.

i dont go near the quays now ( cause of all the dubs)

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:d

bond-007 said:

I would bin it and forget about it. They won't be able to obtain your details.

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So where does one draw lines? Should we bin all bills where we judge that a creditor might not be able to enforce collection? Is it okay to do a runner from a restaurant if you are fleeter of foot than the serving staff?

Would you pay an unlawful invoice? I seriously doubt it.

No difference here. I suggest reading http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Euro car parks issue unlawful invoices based on the laws of contract. Any contract being between the driver and ECP. They attempt to get the owner to pay claiming that the owner is always liable when they clearly do not. They in any event can only claim for actual losses and in a free car park that would be nil.

They won't be able to get the OPs details in any event so he should ignore them.

If it was a council ticket my advice would be to either pay it or appeal.