Firefighters are the latest target for traffic wardens

Firefighters are the latest target for traffic wardens

14 November 2012

FIREFIGHTERS have become the latest target for Downpatrick’s traffic wardens.

The Fire Service confirmed this week that a number of fire personnel were appealing tickets placed on their cars outside the town’s fire station while they were on emergency calls.

The part-time firefighters, who rush to the station when they receive a call, have a sign they can place on their dashboard to indicate they are on duty.

Following the recent ticketing of a blood transfusion van in the town, and complaints over an unnecessary issuing of tickets in Downpatrick town centre, councillor Colin McGrath is asking the council to become involved.

He is asking for officials from parking authority NSL appear before councillors, arguing there is a “complete breakdown in trust” between the parking attendants and the public they serve.

He said firefighters had been parking outside the station on double yellow lines for many years without issue and that it was very clear who the cars belonged to when the station was open and appliances were away on an emergency.

“This is deplorable behaviour and needs addressed,” he said. “Those that risk their lives to attend emergency situations cannot first spend time looking for appropriate parking spaces — it is a nonsense.

“I hope that the officials of NSL will come to our council and listen to our concerns and provide the assurance that their staff are in our district to assist people and traffic and not simply to do all they can to frustrate and annoy local people.

“Following on from last week’s Recorder story I have been in inundated with information from constituents who have highlighted the atrocious manner in which some of these redcoats swan around our district issuing penalty notices like it is a competition to see who can issue the most.

“What is most annoying is that they are doing little to contribute to our towns as traffic flow is not necessarily affected by parking in loading bays for an extra minute or through overstaying in a control zone by five or ten minutes.

“The public are very forgiving to Blue Badge holders taking a few moments to get out to go shopping and the public has no issue with people stopping outside charity shops to deliver much needed resources for their work so why have these redcoats got such an axe to grind?”

Gerard Breen, who runs the Central Bar in Church Street, has also appealed to the council to take charge of the situation.

He said he was regularly targeted when he opened the gates to his premises, which lay alongside a bus stop. He said vans delivering to the bars along Church Street were also hassled when making deliveries to more than one bar.

“They want me to park elsewhere, come down and open the gates, then go back to my car,” he said. “My premises were here before the bus stop.”

Mr. Breen said he had contacted Roads Service to raise the issue but no avail.

“The council needs to take this forward or the traders are going to be in trouble in the town,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Fire Service said a number of parking tickets were being appealed in relation to Downpatrick Fire Station and that she understood the situation was being resolved.