Parking Fines &
Parking Byelaws

The following argument sets out why a vehicle that is being used for the purposes of casual trading can be parked in a casual trading area on a market or fair day and is not subject to parking regulations or parking fines under the Road Traffic Act 1961.

The Road Traffic Act 1961 recognizes the need to control traffic and parking problems by providing a local authority with the power to make special byelaws designed to meet the needs of particular localities. These byelaws are made under sections 89, 90, and 92 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. Byelaws made under section 89 regulate the control and movement of traffic and pedestrians. Byelaws made under Section 90 regulate and control the parking of vehicles on public roads, and section 92 provides for free passage of vehicular traffic through public roads on the occasion of fairs or markets.

The use of sections 89, 90, and 92 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 on markets and fairs is clarified in the judgment ‘DPP (Long) v McDonald (Henchy J) ILRM 233 (1983)’ also known as the Carlow and Dungarvan prosecutions.

The defendants in the first set of cases had each parked a motor van in connection with the sale of goods at Barrack Street, Carlow where a market was being held.

The defendants in the second set of cases had contravened byelaws made under sections 89 & 90 by parking their vans in Grattan Square, Dungarvan for over one hour during a market.

An assessment of byelaws made under section 92 were deemed to be constitutional as byelaws made under that section only secured the free passage of vehicular traffic through public roads on the occasion of the fairs or markets. The intrusion into a constitutionally protected market property right, was deemed to be in the common good.

However byelaws made under sections 89 and 90 if applied to a fair or market could be used to cripple or put out of existence the particular market or fair. This inroad on market property rights was deemed to be unconstitutional.

Any vehicle parked in a casual trading area that is being used in connection with the sale of goods at a market or fair, is not subject to byelaws or prosecutions made under sections 89 & 90 of the Road Traffic Act 1961.

This case of DPP (Long) v McDonald was more recently referred to in the case of ‘Toby Simmons and the Real Olive Co. v. Ennis Town Council, 2012. (Section 5.3 ‘Case law on Casual Trading/Market Trading’).

Vehicles used by traders in connection with the sale of goods, should be allocated space for their vehicles in their trading bays. These ‘market vehicles’ can be seen as part of a trader’s outlet, and as such are part of a market or fair. These vehicles are therefore exempt from the prohibitions contained in sections 89 and 90 of the Road Traffic Act 1961.

A vehicle that is not being used for trading purposes does not form part of a market or fair and is subject to normal parking restrictions.

A local authority is obliged to allocate car parking spaces in a casual trading area to market traders. If a car parking space remains unoccupied, the space may provide customer parking for the market and the town as a whole.