Has anyone else been unfairly "clamped" in Galway?

Question

We (2 couples from the U.S.) were visiting Ireland for the first time and drove to Galway to spend some time. We drove to downtown looking for a parking garage or space and saw a sign "Public Car Park" near the port of Galway. We parked there, next to several other cars and enjoyed downtown, spent some money, then returned to find our rental car clamped. It cost 85 euros to have it removed by a friendly man who failed to understand our misunderstanding of the signs. An ugly event on an otherwise enjoyable day.

P.S. The highways are treacherous for those not used to driving on the left hand side of the road at 100 km/hour on 2 lane roads hardly wide enough for 1 1/2 cars.

P.P.S. Street signs in Waterford are non-existent.

Answer 1

The car park you are talking about is not run by the city authority. A public car park is a car park that is open to the public to use but at a cost. The port (Docks) in galway is a place I would not recomend parking as the clampers are only looking for a reason to clamp. I know its unfair but if every body could park where they wanted then the city would be gridlocked.

As for the size of our roads,  well they were there before the car, natural lay lines. There are so many historical monuments in ireland that you cant build wide expansive highways, you would have to demolish aincent ruins etc, plus it would ruin the countryside. People have been building in ireland since circa 5000 bc. Its easier to build roads in the us since you dont have the history, settlers  since 1492 ish, and the native americans did not build structures.

Answer 2

most public car parks cost money in Ireland.

public car parks meant that anybody can use them ,but at a cost.

a private car park would be for certain staff in a business.

Did ye not look to see if the other cars had parking discs on them??

the car clamp guy was only doing his jobs.

if you find the roads that hard to drive on  perhaps you should have used public transport