Drivers using Dublin City Council’s electronic parking tag system are in danger of being clamped if they use the DCC app to pay for parking on certain streets in the south inner city.

The three streets in question look like public thoroughfares but are actually owned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and policed by a private clamping firm.

The Parking Tag service, introduced in 2009, has close to 50,000 motorists registered. It allows them to park and pay by phone, using a pre-registered debit or credit card, rather than having to use parking meters.

Motorists can use the system in Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin County Council areas. However, Hibernian Road, Forbes Street and Blood Stoney Road in Grand Canal Dock are not covered. Nevertheless, it appears the DCC system will still accept payment from motorists parking in the area.

Tagging system

Parking on those three streets is managed by a company called

Apcoa

and, although it can check if someone has paid for parking using the DCC tagging system, it does not do this in practice.

Instead it will clamp cars which do not have a pay or display ticket purchased through one of its meters.

It said the council’s app should use global positioning technology to block drivers from paying for parking in the area, as it was not covered by its tagging system, and suggested the system was flawed.

‘User error’

However, the council said the company was incorrect in saying its parking tag system allowed customers to pay in areas it did not cover and said this could only occur “through user error”.

A spokeswoman said the council “could not be held to be culpable or liable for user errors, but we do operate a policy of refunding Parking Tag users who make genuine mistakes – this includes both a refund of the parking fee and a once-off refund of a clamping fee if same is incurred”.