QLD Brisbane City Council Clearway Parking Fine

[Aaron Huf]

I was driving in Brisbane City a little while ago when stopped my car on the side of the road where my wife got out of the car and I stayed in the vehicle. Within seconds a car approached from behind (presumably Brisbane City Council but there are no marking on the front) and it honked it's horn. I looked up at the sign and noticed it said it was a clearway zone at the time I was there.

As I was doing looking at the sign the car honked again, so I immediately moved to somewhere I could park. Weeks later I received a $227 fine for being in a clearway zone! I was shocked as I would have been there for no longer than 25 seconds and as soon as I saw it was a clearway at that time of the day I moved. Is there any legal grounds under Traffic Law to have the ticket overturned as it is unreasonable for me to have observed the signage it time to move or to not come to a stop there in the first place?

Your help is GREATLY appreciated

 

[Sophea]

Was the sign that obscured that you couldn't see that it was a clearway? If a reasonable person in your position would be likely to mistake the area for a free parking area and not a clearway - you might have grounds to dispute it. Otherwise, there is no basis to dispute a ticket because you were not aware of the law regarding that zone. Occasionally they also let you off the hook if there were extenuating circumstances like your wife is having a baby or something.