Dublin clampers towed away a car with a child in back – again

A crew working for Dublin Street Parking Services (DSPS), the council’s parking enforcement contractor, towed a car away with a small child in the back seat earlier this month.

This time it happened on Parnell Street at about 2pm on 2 November. But this isn’t the first time a DSPS crew has towed away a car with a kid in the back.

The council is aware of the 2 November incident, a Dublin City Council spokesperson said on Monday. “A full investigation is currently underway.”

Gardaí “attended an incident on Parnell Street” on 2 November shortly after 2pm, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said Monday. “The child in the car was safely reunited with his parents,” he said.

In two separate incidents in 2023, DSPS crews towed away cars with toddlers in them, Dublin Live reported at the time.

What happened

On 2 November a DSPS crew found a white BMW obstructing Parnell Street, and decided to tow it around the corner, out of the way, according to a DSPS incident report.

The writer of the report stayed in the truck while their partner hopped out and looked in the front and back windows, the report says. 

“As back window was covered with tinted film [the other crew member] used his hands to cover light when looking in back window,” the report says.

The crew towed the car to a spot nearby but not obstructing traffic, and clamped it, the report says. 

“I returned to truck, [the other crew member] continue with photos, Few minutes later he come to me telling me you don’t believe and showing me photo with kid in car,” the report says.

One crew member stayed with the car with the child in it, the other went back to where it was towed from to try to find the parent. 

By then the guards had heard what had happened, and approached another DSPS crew to find out where the car had been towed to. 

The guards soon connected with the DSPS crew that knew where the car and child were, and the child and vehicle owner were reunited. 

“Owner opened car and took child out – she was age around 3 year old; calm not crying,” the report says. 

“Garda took my details and told that driver admitted that he parked illegally and left child unaccompanied,” it says.

The crew removed the clamp from the car, it says. “We went back to pound under instruction.”

“Additional control measures” 

After the incidents in April 2023, there was a meeting “between DSPS and An Garda Siochana to review the procedures in place for when a vehicle is being removed”, that Dublin Live article quoted a council spokesperson as saying.

“Following this review additional safeguards are now in place to help prevent any reoccurrence of this issue,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

A 22 June 2023 memo to all DSPS staff says “we met our client, DCC, in relation to the unfortunate events leading to recent media coverage. We agreed it is in everyone’s interest, particularly our colleagues, to take additional photographs when relocating vehicles.” 

In addition to photos showing a vehicle is illegally parked, and any damage on it, “We now also must ensure after we complete the visual checks of vehicles prior to relocation, we take a photograph of the interior, particularly the back, of each vehicle prior to lifting,” the memo says. 

So how did those additional safeguards fail this time? A spokesperson for DSPS declined to comment, referring questions to the council. The council spokesperson did not reply directly to this question.