Hundreds sign petition to reverse Trim's 10-minute parking rule

Angry traders in Trim have circulated a petition to shops around the town to urge Trim Town Counil to reverse its recent parking rules. At the January budget meeting, due to the perilous state of the council's finances, councillors voted to raise parking in the town by 10 cent to €1 per hour and to do away with the 10-minute 'period of grace'. Due to the risk of a fine and the new 50 cent minumum charge - up from 30 cent - traders in the town say they are feeling the pinch and are demanding a reversal of the measures. Hundreds of local shoppers have now signed the petition in local shops. Trim businessman Joe Patterson, of Grange Paving, is spearheading the petition, which has been delivered to all the town's traders, against what he says is a "ludicrous" situation. "Just today, when I was driving up the town, I saw 11 car parking spaces on a street that would never have spaces on it. The 10-minute ruling allowed people to get their packet of cigarettes and their paper, but that's gone now and it'll hurt us all," he said. "Businesses are just holding on as they are, then they receive rates bills for €10,000, even €21,000," he added. "It's absolutely ludicrous to think of this when businesses have spent the last two years burying everything just to survive when they can't get money anywhere," he added. Town Council cathaoirleach James O'Shea said that the council is aware of the situation and that "while the budget has been passed, we did say we would review the financial situation every three months in the hope of finding any extra money". He added: "We did say the first thing we would look at in that case would be the 10 minutes' grace."