A LETTERKENNY councillor who is fed up with able-bodied motorists parking in disabled parking spaces says that he is going to slap stickers on their car windows.
The claim was made by Cllr Tómas Seán Devine during a discussion at the March meeting of Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District Council about disabled parking spaces and making sure that they are properly painted and marked.
Cllr Devine said that he is sickened with people who park in disabled parking bays when they shouldn’t.
And he declared: “I am getting stickers done up. I am going to start putting them on people’s windows, it is getting that bad.”
He was supporting a motion from Cllr Declan Meehan requesting that the Council “commits to and implements” a painting programme for all disabled parking spaces to ensure that they are “fully painted blue” in accordance with the current regulations, and with a white wheelchair symbol.
He pointed out that in many of the older spaces, such as in Milford, the paint has worn away.
He also felt that the new paint would act as a deterrent although he acknowledged that there are “people who think that they will get away with it” parking in disabled bays when they should not be.
He also commented that “it seems the further you are away from a garda station, the more likely it is to happen.”
Mayor Cllr. Ciaran Brogan said that this has been a “serious issue” down through the years and he quipped that it is “always the biggest fanciest yock that pulls in and parks in them (disabled spaces).”
Meanwhile, Cllr Devine also felt that private car parks and shopping centres need to do something about the issue as well.
David McIlwaine, Senior Executive Engineer, explained that there are difficulties putting the paint on some surfaces.
To do so, may require the replacement of the road surface in some locations.
“Where there is an existing space on a road that is being resurfaced as part of the roadworks programme, the MD will reinstate the disabled spaces with the blue markings where it is possible,” he said.
He added that if there is funding, they can do an audit of the disabled parking spaces.
