By Conor Sharkey
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Minister Conor Murphy has agreed to meet with Strabane District Council to discuss the soaring number of penalties being dished out by local traffic attendants.
The meeting was secured following a motion tabled by councillor Ivan Barr calling on Roads Service to ensure that traffic authority NCP enforce current parking legislation with a greater degree of flexibility.
The much maligned NCP came in for criticism locally late last year after statistics revealed that more than 4,000 tickets were issued across the Strabane District over a 12 month period.
More recently the company have again been under fire, this time accused of targeting cars while the owners attended a funeral service.
Now, the Regional Development Minister will visit Strabane in person to try and quell the rising tide of disgruntlement being courted by NCP staff.
Speaking at a meeting of Strabane District Council on Tuesday night, councillor Ivan Barr said: "A site meeting was held some time ago with regards to the depedestrianisation of Castle Street, and we heard from various traders who said it was nearly impossible for lorries to pull up outside their shops and load or unload goods without an NCP attendant pouncing.
"I myself have watched traffic attendant's in Market Street car park going from vehicle to vehicle, sometimes producing a camera and taking pictures. By all accounts, they are ticketing vehicles where the pay and display ticket has expired by a matter of minutes. It's amazing, because many of these attendant's are former traffic wardens, who under the old system before NCP took over, would have used a bit of discretion. That just isn't the case anymore and there needs to be some degree of flexibility. There is a review of the NCP contract coming up in the near future and I think this council should put forward a representation to say that the general public in Strabane cannot be expected to tolerate the current enforcement situation," Mr Barr said.
Meanwhile, councillor Eugene McMenamin said, "Fines have increased ten fold since the NCP took over and it is driving motorists away from the town centre. It's putting people off and needs to be looked at.
Commenting on Mr Barr's motion, Castlederg councillor Derek Hussey said the proposal appeared to demonise NCP attendants, who he said, were simply following the rules laid down by their hierarchy.
This claim was however dismissed by Mr Barr who said it was never his intention to demonise individuals, but that he believed Roads Service and Minister Murphy should be in a position to lay down ground rules whereby common sense and a degree of discretion could be used.
A date has to be confirmed for the Minister's visit. It is understood it will go ahead within a matter of weeks.
