CITY centre shoppers have reacted angrily to the new price plan at the Q car park at Harveys Quay, where motorists are now charged at 15 minute intervals.
In a recent article The Limerick Post revealed the prices at various multi-story carparks around the city, and, with their new price plan of .60 cent per 15 minutes, the Q facility at Dunnes on Henry Street, emerged as the most expensive in the city, at 2.40 euro per hour.
A company representative told The Post that the rate reduced to two euro per hour, after the first three hours.
Teresa Moloney, from Thomondgate, now living in Kilmore, was outraged when she discovered that the charge had increased by 50 cent from the previous rate of 1.90 euro per hour.
“I couldn’t believe they would increase the price by so much and try to make out that they were doing us a favour by reducing it from 2.40 to two euro after the first 3 hours. That is still extortionate”, Teresa told The Post.
“Nobody would come into town, park and spend just 15 minutes there. Also, if you are one minute over that you have to pay for the next 15, so if you are there for, say, just 31 minutes it would cost 1.80 euro!
“The location suits me perfectly and, as a woman in my 60’s, I am not a fan of having to walk too far, but I want to boycott the place now. I would be prepared to march in protest over the cost”.
Another angry Q car park customer was Mairéad Portley, who told The Post that she would be reluctant to shop in the city centre in future due to the price of parking there.
She said: “To my horror last Friday, I noticed that Q car park at Dunnes had changed its billing system to 15 minute intervals.
“I parked there from 11 am to 2.15 pm to enjoy some lunch and shopping in the city centre. The cost of this parking was 9.20 euro, an incredible rip off.
“I, for one, will never park here again and will be most reluctant to shop in the city in future.
“While in France recently, I parked in the city centre of Dijon, where it was 50 cent per hour. In essence, an hour parking in the Q car park is now 2.40, which compares negatively against other carparks in the city.
“In recessionary times, I would expect prices to drop rather than increase”.
In light of the comments received from unhappy customers, The Limerick Post contacted the headquarters of Q car parks in Dublin, seeking an explanation for the change in the price plan.
Breda Leonard, head of marketing at the company, told us: “The price change was introduced at the beginning of August after we had been approached by customers and retailers who asked us to consider a 15 minute interval charge.
“The motivation behind their request was to allow customers the opportunity to pay solely for the time they spent shopping. Previously, if an individual spent one hour and five minutes in the car park they would be charged for two hours. The 15 minute interval charge is more flexible and in current times, everyone is more conscious of spending.
“We have discovered by chatting to customers that 62 per cent of them have made savings since we introduced the change. The plan was rolled out in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin, but Limerick is the only place where we have received predominantly negative feedback.
Ms. Leonard stated that a survey with a number of questions would be circulated to the carparks, and concluded that Q car parks would be happy to revert back to the hourly charge if that is what the majority of customers wanted.
There is, as of yet, no date set for when the final decision on prices at the car park will be made.
