Parking firm clamps rival company’s van in Dublin city centre
A parking enforcement van was clamped for at least an hour-and-a-half on Wednesday morning in Dublin city centre.
Around 10.15am, a Dublin City Council (DCC) parking enforcement van, operated by rival firm Q-Park, arrived and removed the vehicle’s clamp.
The council’s parking enforcement services arrived to remove the clamp around 10.15am
A spokesperson for Q-Park told the Irish Independent the company “cannot comment” on individual enforcement cases.
“All operations are carried out in line with the rules and regulations that form our contract with Dublin City Council,” they said.
On-street clamping is the most public-facing element of the feud between the rival private clamping firms, amid a legal skirmish over the council’s lucrative parking contract.
Apcoa is in line to take up the council’s €51m contract for city-wide parking enforcement in the coming months.
However, Q-Park, DCC’s long-time parking enforcement operator, is challenging the decision to award the tender to Apcoa in the High Court.
That contract consists of the provision of clamping, relocation, removal, fines, a payment centre and a vehicle pound.
Q-Park, which is active in a number of European countries, was one of four bidders for the contract, but Apcoa had the lowest tender.
DCC said there would be savings for the public purse of between €500,000 and €1m a year if Apcoa is awarded the new contract.
But Q-Park claimed there had been an unlawful and manifestly erroneous evaluation of tenders in relation to several matters, including day-to-day operations management, financial management and the implementation plan.
The new contract was due to be in place by this month, but legal wrangling has pushed that date back. The issue will come before the court again in October.