Revealed: Dublin’s most clamped street revealed as more than 40,000 people penalised for illegal parking in 2022

Clarendon Street has again emerged as Dublin city’s most clamped street as overall clamping rates in the capital rose by nearly 10pc last year to over 40,000 vehicles.

It is the third year in a row that Clarendon Street – which runs parallel to Grafton Street at the back of the Westbury Hotel – has topped the list of locations in Dublin where motorists are likely to have their cars immobilised for parking illegally.

Figures provided by Dublin City Council show that the overall number of vehicles clamped within the local authority’s administrative area last year was 40,732 – an annual increase of nearly 3,600 vehicles.

The most number of vehicles clamped in a single day was on November 1, 2022, with 181. The daily average of vehicles being immobilised in Dublin last year was 112.

Vehicles were found to be parked illegally at over 1,600 locations across the city by parking enforcement staff from Dublin Street Parking Services operating on behalf of the council.

The increase in clamped vehicles was expected as traffic levels in the city had risen following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions during the third year of the pandemic.

There are around 30,000 on-street parking spaces around the city.

Only around 23,000 vehicles were clamped in Dublin during the first year of major lockdowns to counter the pandemic in 2020.

The latest figures also show Dublin City Council collected over €30.6m in parking fees from parking metres and customers with online accounts in 2022 – an increase of 40pc over the previous year.

Income from parking fines, which were introduced in June 2021 to allow for greater enforcement of parking regulations across the city as a complement to clamping, totalled just over €434,000 last year.

Figures from clamping-release fees have still to be finalised. They are expected to be up significantly due to a combination of increased detections and an increase in the cost of clamped vehicles being released, from €80 to €125, which came into effect last February.

The figures show that 751 vehicles were clamped on Clarendon Street last year. This did, however, represent a significant drop in the number of illegally parked vehicles detected at the same location in 2021, when 1,240 vehicles were clamped there.

Mespil Road – the city’s worst black spot for illegal parking for many years – recorded the second highest number of clamped vehicles last year with 684.

The third most common location for clamping vehicles in 2022 was South Circular Road – another known target area for parking enforcement staff – with 586.

Other areas which recorded increased clamping activity last year included North Great George’s Street, Castleforbes Road, Synge Street and Chelmsford Road.

The latest figures show the most common parking offence by motorists in Dublin city last year was non-payment for use of a parking bay, which accounted for 41pc of all clamping events.

Over 4,700 vehicles were clamped for parking on a clearway, with Clarendon Street and Chelmsford Road notable locations for the offence. Another 2,357 were clamped for parking on a footpath, with prime locations being New Ireland Road in Rialto and O’Devaney Gardens in Stoneybatter.

Figures show 1,328 were caught for parking in an operational bus lane, with a large portion of offences detected on Waterloo Road and South Circular Road.

A total of 314 motorists had their vehicles immobilised for parking in a disabled driver’s space without displaying a valid badge. Fishamble Street and Parnell Square were prime locations for the offence.

The figures also reveal that 71 motorists were caught misusing spaces reserved for electric vehicles, while 67 vehicles were clamped for parking on a pedestrianised street and 42 vehicles were clamped for parking on cycle paths.

Between 8am and 9am remains the time when offending motorists are most likely to get their vehicle clamped, with the other high-risk periods occurring between 7am and midday.

Statistics show Thursday remains the day of the week when motorists are most likely to be caught, with 6,859 vehicles clamped on Thursdays last year.

Considerably fewer detections are made on Saturdays and Mondays (approximately 5,600 each) with just under 2,600 vehicles clamped on Sundays.

On a monthly basis, the most number of vehicles clamped occurred in July, with 3,870, while the least number – 2,157 vehicles – were clamped in December.

Top 10 clamping black spots in Dublin City in 2022 (Previous year ranking in brackets)

1 – Clarendon Street – 751 (1)

2 – Mespil Road – 684 (8)

3 – South Circular Road – 586 (2)

4 – Chelmsford Road – 557 (3)

5 – Waterloo Road – 493 (5)

6 – North Great George’s Street – 467 (9)

7 – Merrion Square South 434 (4)

8 – Castleforbes Road – 423 (23)

9 – Ranelagh – 420 (6)

10 – Synge Street – 367 (15)