Two thirds of appealed parking fines in Tipperary have been expunged in the last two years

Clonmel motorists were issued with more parking fines than any other town in Tipperary in the past two years. 

According to figures obtained from Tipperary County Council, 3,068 parking fines were dished out across the county in 2021, which represented a decrease on the previous year where 3,255 were issued.

The information also provided insight into the number of tickets appealed in each of the large towns across the county, with a total of 558 appeals being received by the council last year, which was down on the 2020 figure of 607.

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Further statistics in the findings discovered that a large quantity of appealed fines were overturned county wide in the same two year period, with just under 78 percent of fine appeals successful in 2020, while last year saw a 75 percent success rate.

It also highlighted the large amount of outstanding parking fines in the county currently, with 456 parking fines yet to be paid by Tipperary motorists in 2020, with a significant increase on that figure last year with 559 fines outstanding.

Clonmel motorists were issued with 1,426 parking tickets in 2021 which represented a huge increase on the 2020 figure, which recorded 1,014 tickets.

There was also a significant increase in the number of people appealing tickets issued to them, with 197 appeals being sent to the council in 2020, with 245 out of last year's tally being appealed.

The percentage of successful appeals for cancellation of fines in the south Tipperary town were very high with just under 75 percent of the fines struck off in 2021.

In comparison, the town with the second highest figure was Thurles, recording 576 parking fines in 2020, with a reduced number of 453 by the end of last year while 68 percent of the fines appealed by motorists were expunged.

Tipperary Town, Cahir, and Cashel had combined parking fines of 726 in 2020 and recorded a similar figure last year with 706 fines, while Carrick-on-Suir in comparison had 441 and 158, with Nenagh recording 498 and 325 in the same timeframe.

Fianna Fail Councillor Sean Ryan, who is a member of the Tipperary Transport Co-ordination Unit and Environment & Climate Action SPC said he is extremely surprised by the figures, particularly in Thurles.

“That’s an extremely high percentage of cancellations,” Ryan acknowledged.

“The only real logic I could think of, from a Thurles perspective, would be that there was some confusion about the parking situation after the developments in the town square over the last while.

“I know I have heard of a lot of complaints from drivers around the town about the situation so that might be why there have been so many successful appeals related to parking fines.

“But you’re looking at almost three quarters of the parking fines given out in the county being written off which is extremely high.

“We’ll have to look into the reasoning behind this because it seems to be an extremely high number which I’m surprised with to be honest.

“I know there was some confusion amongst the traffic wardens during Covid over fines related to tax which might have had an effect on the figures in general, but it is certainly an issue that I will be raising at the next Municipal meeting this month, '' he finished.

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