Galway City Council parking meters fiasco ‘scaring visitors away’

A woman from South Galway told the City Tribune this week that she was left angered and stressed by a trip to the city for a hospital appointment.

The woman, who described herself as an old-age pensioner, said she was infuriated as she was met with one broken parking meter after another — and abandoned plans to spend time and money in the city having been “discriminated against” because she was unable to download a phone app.

And a local representative has warned that unless this situation is rectified, businesses in the city will be hit as those who require a car to travel to Galway take their money elsewhere.

A significant number of parking meters in the city are currently branded with ‘Out of Order’ signs – and they will remain that way for the foreseeable future while the Council remains embroiled in a legal battle with their former operator.

This follows a change in operator in January which has led to a series of issues — among them the removal of card-payment as an option; the collapse of the Council’s Pay and Display system for two weeks in January resulting in at least €86,000 in lost earnings; and now, broken down meters that are unavailable for cash payments.

“I was absolutely amazed by what I was seeing,” the woman told the City Tribune.

“I was coming into the hospital for a Breast Check appointment and said I would park at the Dyke Road and walk over to the hospital — get a cup of coffee on the way.

“I went to one machine — it was broken. I went to the next and it was also out of order. A woman that was there told me I needed to download an app, which I don’t know how to do,” she continued.

Out of frustration, the woman left the carpark and drove to Newcastle to park on-street near the hospital, only to discover that the machines there were out of order too.

She had to enlist the help of two passers-by to download the app to her phone “and I had to hand my phone over to a stranger to do it”.

After about 20 minutes, one of them managed to enter the woman’s card details and pay the €4 for two hours’ parking “but I still didn’t receive anything to prove I had paid”.

“If I was younger, or someone who knows how to download apps, I wouldn’t be saying anything. But there are lots of people who can’t. My husband doesn’t have a smart phone so what would he do?

Pictured: Parking meters out of order are causing frustration for motorists.