In the case I mentioned it's the free car park down the road from Mullingar train station so NCP couldnt do anything.

I don't think anyone other than the guards are allowed tow anyone away, with the exception of the RPA and Veolia on Luas property.

City and County councils can, but an Irish Rail car park wouldn't be part of their jurisdiction.

What about moving to a different part of the car park and clamping it?

I don't think they can even move it, or if they did and damaged it they'd be liable.

Same 02 renault parked outside the spaces yesterday in the free car park but at least this time there was plenty of room for people properly parked to get by. He / she are not the only ones doing it of course.

The car park at Mullingar Station itself has been given a big facelift with proper spaces marked out. More effective use of space on the left hand side on the way in and a one way system has been introduced.

At the risk of doing an Andy Gray I have to say I've seen at least 4 drivers exiting via the entry gate so far and they were all women :)

Signs now up in the 'free' car park down the road from Mullingar Train Station stating a €1 daily charge would apply from 1/2/2012. There is no machine in place as yet so we got a bonus free parking day today :)

The machine is now operational in the 'down the road' car park so it's €1 a day from here on in Mullingar.

I noticed this morning that the new machine does not facilitate paying in advance for the next day ie overnight parking which is a bit of a bummer. Means we have to use the more expensive 'irish rail' car park to leave the car overnight.

You're paying more for the convenience of overnight parking. Not sure how that's not a feature as opposed to a bug.