A MOTORIST HAS been issued with a fixed charge notice after using a neighbour’s expired disabled permit to avail of free parking.

Gardaí said the motorist was using the expired disabled permit to avail of free parking near their workplace. 

The permit was seized by gardaí and the driver was issued with a fixed charge notice. 

The person was caught as part of Operation Enable – a multi-agency initiative between An Garda Síochána, Dublin City Council, Dublin Street Parking Service, the Disabled Drivers Association of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association.

The campaign urges disabled permit holders to respect the conditions attached to the permits and now allow others to misuse them.

Operation Enable was launched in March last year and in the first 12 months 80 people in total were prosecuted and fined. 

Speaking to TheJournal.ie earlier this year, Sergeant Peter Woods, who came up with the idea of the operation, said that he has seen cases where multiple permits have been reissued to family members of deceased persons, but he said the two associations that issue the permits have strengthened their policies in the last year to try to prevent this.

Woods said gardaí have also seized photocopies of permits from drivers and have identified people using their grandparents’ permits so they can park in the city centre for free all day while they are in work.

He said there is a heightened awareness about the issue among members of the public now, helped by the promotion of the operation on social media.

In March this year, one year on from the launch of the operation, Minister for Transport Shane Ross increased the penalty for parking in a disabled bay without an official permit from €80 to €150.

With reporting by Michelle Hennessy