THE GROUP WHICH owns the clamping firm contracted to carry out clamping and parking enforcement in Dublin city recorded a 23% increase in pre-tax profits to €1.75m in 2017.

Tazbell Services Group DAC owns Dublin Street Parking Services (DSPS) Unlimited which operates the clamping contract for Dublin City Council.

DSPS has operated the clamping contract since 2004 and each year, DSPS tickets, clamps, relocates and stores in the region of 60,000 vehicles in the capital.

In the year under review in 2017, 55,977 vehicles were clamped in the city council area which works out at just over 150 every day. 

Now, new accounts for Tazbell Services Group DAC show that the overall business enjoyed the increase in profits in spite of revenues decreasing marginally from €17.99m to €17.8m in the 12 months to the end of December 2017.

Tazbell Services Group also owns Park Rite which is the largest commercial car park operator in the country with a diverse client base including retailers, financial institutions, real estate investment trusts, private investors, hospitals and local authorities. 

Tazbell Services Group is the largest provider of outsourced parking enforcement services in the country.

In total, the group manages around 50,000 on-street parking spaces for local authorities in Ireland and its client list includes Dublin City Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council.

Numbers employed by the group decreased from 231 to 228 in 2017 with staff costs decreasing from €8.52m to €8.4m.

Pay to directors Thomas Dowd and Martin O’Gara totalled €347,731 – key management personnel received €785,441.

Tazbell in 2017 paid out €300,000 in dividends and this followed a dividend payout of €750,000 in 2016.

The directors state that they are satisfied with the performance of the group.

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said: “The current Parking Enforcement contract is currently under an extension period while Dublin City Council are negotiating a new contract with the preferred bidder from the procurement process.”