Parking in Cork

Most cities (and towns) in Ireland have, either out of necessity or with eyes wide at the potential revenue bottom line, installed some sort of paid parking system for their streets. Here in Athlone it’s a parking meter you purchase a slip from (I’ll get around to posting that up here at some point). But Cork has something different.

It’s like a lotto scratch card. I suppose the rationale isn’t that it provides scratching fun for the parking public but that they can print loads of these and they can be used in every parking situation for the next two years. It also saves the city from taking up space on their streets with ugly parking voucher dispensers and the attendent maintenance fees that go along with them. It was handy for us visiting the city because we could purchase a few of them at once and scratch them and use them at our discretion.

To use one, just scratch off the year, month, day, hour and minute and slip ‘er on your dashboard. You’re good for two hours.

Careful, you’re not allowed to park in one spot, permit or not, for more than the period of one of these things. The punishment? Clamping. Trust me, I’ve dealt with an Irish clamping company – they’ve heard every excuse and have absolutely ZERO sympathy. This is how they make money – clamping your car and getting you to pay them to take it off.