Careless parking in Doolin puts lives at risk

Lives are being put at risk by careless parking, according to the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coast Guard. The Doolin team moved into their new €1.8 million coast guard station at Ballyaghline last week and have said that already the entrance is being obstructed by parked cars.

“There have been people parking in front of the entrance but, luckily, there were no call-outs at the times when people would mostly have been there. But these people are going out on the boats, so the cars could be left there for some time,” station officer Mattie Shannon said.

“Respect the parking, lives could be lost if the boat is delayed. Every second counts. We do our best but there is only so much you can do when you have to tow a car out of the way, and cars will be towed out of the way if they are obstructing. They will have to be. Time is of the essence and we don’t have time to be fiddling with cars,” he continued.

The council is due to paint a yellow box outside the new station early next week and Mr Shannon is urging people to obey the parking restriction.

“There is a warden there and he has done a great job this year but he cannot be there and at the top of the pier, looking at every car that parks, as well,” he added.

“The one thing we would ask people is to respect the parking markings put in by the council. The council is putting in a yellow box in front of the rescue centre and it is terrible to see it vacant, when people are scratching their heads wondering ‘where am I going to park a car?

“They have to drive all the way to Fisher Street nearly to park a car but, unfortunately, if we need to launch the boats and there is a car anywhere around where the box will be, we won’t be able to launch,” Mr Shannon said.