Parking on footpaths in Tipperary will not be tolerated according to a senior County Council official.
The issue was raised at the monthly meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District with Director of Services Marcus O’Connor highlighting the recent increase in fines associated with such an offence.
Speaking to Tipp FM Marcus pointed out that parking on a footpath can cause problems for so many people.
“Pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, parents with buggies or prams – they can’t get by. What they have to do then is they have to try and get around that car. Particularly if they are in a wheelchair they might have to come down from a full height kerb – 4 to 6 inches high – go around the car and then try get back up on the footpath again. They just can’t do it.
“So it’s very unsafe and very unfair.”
As well as causing a major inconvenience for wheelchair users and people with prams or buggies, parking on footpaths also causes structural damage.
“We have over the last couple of years invested between €5 and €6 million in footpaths around the county through the Active Travel Programme. If people are now going to start parking on these they’re going to damage that investment.
“The law has been changed recently where the fine for parking on a footpath has been increase from €40 to €80.”
