Mayo motorists in court for unpaid parking fines

A number of motorists from the Ballinrobe and Claremorris areas who received fixed charge penalties from Mayo County Council in relation to unpaid parking fines have appeared before a sitting of Castlebar District Court.

In most cases, the defendants apologised to the court and said they had simply forgotten to pay the fine or had tried to pay it when it was too late and a summons had already been issued.

In one case, however, a 70-year-old man from Ballinrobe had a ticket put on his car which was parked outside his own house.

He told Judge Sandra Murphy that he was entitled to park his car outside his house and produced a permit that allowed him to do so.

The judge dismissed that case but a number of those who pleaded guilty to parking without a ticket on their car were each fined €60 and also ordered to pay €50 apiece in costs to the county council.

“Mayo County Council is tasked with providing car parks and the onus is on motorists to put a parking ticket on their car, otherwise they can expect to see a ticket on their windscreen left by the traffic wardens,” commented Judge Murphy.