Drivers pay 4500 on athlone free parking days
Motorists in Athlone paid a whopping €4,420 in parking fees to the council on days when 'free parking’ was being offered by the local authority last December.
The figure, obtained by the Westmeath Independent through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, has been described as “shocking” by the Mayor of Athlone, Cllr Frankie Keena.
On designated days in the run-up to Christmas, the council waives its parking charges in Athlone in order to help boost local business.
However, the message that free parking was in place on certain days last December clearly didn’t reach a large number of motorists, as they put €4,420 into the parking machines at times when they weren’t required to pay anything.
The council said its parking machines could not have simply been switched off on the 'free parking’ dates as they would have to be rebooted to work again the next day, which could lead to problems with the way they operate.
According to the figures provided by the local authority in response to our FOI request, a total of €5,220.30 was paid in parking fees in the Athlone Town Council area last year on days when there was no parking charge in effect in council-owned spaces.
Members of the public unnecessarily paid this money on days such as Sundays, public holidays and 'free parking’ promotion days.
A further €114.30 was erroneously paid by motorists during the first three months of this year.
The overall sum collected by Athlone Town Council in parking fees in 2013 was close to half a million euro - €452,617.
Earlier this year, we reported that drivers paid almost €700 to park in one location in Athlone - the Fairgreen carpark - on one of the free parking days (December 21) last year.
This figure was provided by the council to Cllr Frankie Keena, who said he heard of several people putting money into the council’s parking machines only to learn from others that the 'free parking’ scheme had been in effect at the time.
Some have suggested that the council donate its 'free parking’ income to charity, but this suggestion was rejected by the local authority which said the money would instead be used to help fund its services.
When contacted by this newspaper about the findings of our FOI request, Cllr Keena said he was “shocked” to hear that over €4,400 had been paid on 'free parking’ days in Athlone last December.
He said lessons would have to be learned this year - and suggested putting a plastic bag or another form of cover on the parking machines to make sure people didn’t put money into them on 'free parking’ days.
“Lessons must be learned and I think when this Christmas comes around the 'free parking’ scheme will have to be marketed properly,” he said.
“The council said there was signage put up (to tell people about the free parking) last year but obviously people didn’t see those signs. There’s no point in us saying there’s free parking in Athlone if that is not the experience people are having. The sum collected last year is a very substantial figure.”
He said the free parking scheme in the lead-up to Christmas was “very important for shoppers and businesspeople alike” and he would be insisting that the “demarcation” between the paid parking and 'free parking’ days was made clearer to people from this December on.