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Unread 12-02-2008, 23:07   #1
fedup
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Default Parking at Rush and lusk.

The parking at Rush and Lusk train station is at best a joke and at worst I don't even know how to start describing it. Up until now I have just lived with it as an annoying and stressful start to my day. That was until I had to pay €90 release fee today to a profiteering clamping company.

As you will maybe aware the rush and lusk station is difficult to get to,it is located a couple kilometres from the town. As I'm travelling from Rush I have no option but to drive to get there. I get the 0800 train to Connolly station every weekday morning. I usually try and park in the temporary car park on the Lusk side, there I have had my car blocked in, scraped and dented numerous times by inconsiderate commuters but I am proud to say that I have never hit anyone or blocked anyone in there myself. People in this car park will literally just leave their car anywhere. They leave huge gaps and don't consider anyone else when parking. as you can see;

This morning I could not find a space where I wouldn't be blocking someone else's car, so I went to find another parking spot in another location. On the Lusk side, in the new car park on the top right hand side I found a space where I would not be blocking anyone or causing an obstruction. At this point I have to admit that it was not a designated parking bay, there are 80+ cars not parked in bays at the station. There is no other option but to just find the best spot you can. I was definitely not causing an obstruction as you will see from the pictures included. The spot was, without a doubt the best of the worst.


When I came home today the car was clamped. I was singled out, one out of the 80+ cars. But not only that, the car had dents across the roof of it that were clearly made by a chain (chain on the clamp), I have also included a picture of this.

I had to wait for 1 hour 15 minutes for the clamper to arrive to pay him the €90. When I informed him of the dents, his professional response was “you can report it, but you'll never prove it.” And when ask why the other cars are not clamped his response was that Irish rail have decided to only target the Lusk side of the train station for clamping.

Being a student, €90 is a very large sum to me. I'm in college 5 days a week 9 to 5 and working the weekends. I have an income of less than €100 a week, after my living expenses I'm luck to have €25 to spare at the end of the week. €90 is three weeks living for me and I have just been robbed of that because I tried to do what's right and use public transport.
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Unread 14-02-2008, 00:15   #2
Colm Donoghue
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First of all you were parked where Irish rail have been clamping for several years, and you do have the options of the 33, and other less attractive options of bike or walking on the "new" footpath from Rush to the station.

However your car has been damaged and you were delayed unnecessarily by the clamp. and you were challeged to prove the clamper did the damage as opposed to denial that it was the clampers ( a really good customer service attitude....)

My first advice is to report the damage to the garda*, then report the damage to the ticket office and ask for the name of the station master, it's a guy in Balbriggan station.
There is reasonable cctv coverage of the car parks and I complined about damage to my car before and it was fixed without me telling them which car was mine- only checking the cctv could this have been done.

There are no legal grounds to clamp you on private property, if you are there without permission of the landowner they have to ask you to leave first. if you were to place a notice stating that anything interfering with, say your car, would be removed, and were to invest in a good bolt cutters in case you ever had to cut a chain, you would probably be the lower side of ninety euro. obviously you couldn't cut the loose chain that was hanging off the clamp on your car because you are not supposed to. But in case you found Irish Rail had clamped someone else with no good reason to do so, as I have seen in that car park several times you could help them get home...

there is always room far down the road to the dump to park if you're late and Donabate is another fallback option. as is the carpark for the windmills in skerries during the daytime.
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