Dublin City Council last night defended its clamping policy following two incidents over the past week in which groups of foreign tourists have had their coaches clamped.
Two coach-loads of tourists, believed to be German, were left stranded on Dublin's Nassau Street late yesterday afternoon when they returned from their rambles around the town to find both vehicles clamped.
According to witnesses, the enraged tourists were forced to wait almost an hour before members of the clamping service returned to remove the clamps.
A similar incident occurred outside a leading Dublin hotel last weekend. In that instance, a bus-load of American holidaymakers were left stranded when their coach was clamped while they attended a cabaret show in the hotel.
Commenting on the incident outside the hotel, a spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said: "That situation came as a result of a number of drivers taking to parking illegally overnight outside the hotel. The clampers had, previous to last weekend, been issuing warnings to drivers found to be in violation of the law. Someone simply pushed it too far."
Recent figures indicate that Ireland has seen a resurgence in its tourism market, with Dublin and the midlands recording increases of almost 45 per cent. However, bookings were said to be down in the north-west and the south-east.
It emerged earlier this month that pre-tax profits at Central Parking, the company that provides Dublin City Council with its clamping service, were down to €388,436 for the year ended September 30th, 2003, compared to €538,433 in the same period in 2002. Gross profit was down from €816,294 to €626,743.
The company denied the drop in profits was related to a fall in the number of motorists being clamped in Dublin.
Recent figures show 60,855 cars were clamped in 2003, with 29,090 clamped by the end of June 2004.