VIC Any Way to Waive Parking Fines?

[Smiley]

Hello,

Does my wife have any standing to get out of this car park fine?

My wife has parked in the same side street in Brunswick West, Melbourne, for a number of years when driving and parking for work. No restriction on car parking. E.g. no car parking signs. My wife parked her car in the same side street two days ago and received a car parking fine. She says all cars on the entire street also received fines. My wife says over 10 cars would have been fined.

Upon discussion with her friends, it was said that the car parking signs were only put up less than two weeks ago. My wife only works casually and parked her car on the side street at 7.00am which was pitch black dark, given the winter time in Melbourne. She obviously did not see the sign which I must say is a clear sign and was not obstructed.

Question:

Given the above, is there any room for movement from the council to waive the parking fines? It does not appear we have grounds from a legal perspective? Unsure?

Regards,

 

[Adam1user]

Hi,

I doubt you will have any reason to dispute the fine. The responsibility falls on the person to be careful. The only opinion is try to ask for review and if your wife has good driving record, just explain what happened and to state that she will be more careful in the future, this is the only way that may help.

You may want to risk going to court, but at the end you will pay the court fees even if the fine is waived, so it will be the difference between the fine and court fees in best scenario.

 

[Clancy]

The council should just give up this pretense of propriety and give mobile parking signs to rangers so they can sneak up behind parked cars, drop the sign there, then fine them! yeeehaw!

 

[Smiley]

Hi,
I doubt you will have any reason to dispute the fine. The responsibility falls on the person to be careful. The only advice, is try to ask for review and if your wife has good driving record, just explain what happened and to state that she will be more careful in the future, this is the only way that may help. You may want to risk going to court, but at the end you will pay the court fees even if the fine is waived, so it will be the difference between the fine and court fees in best scenario.

Thanks Adam for your comments. I think that is the likely route I will take. Nothing to lose.

 

[Smiley]

The council should just give up this pretense of propriety and give mobile parking signs to rangers so they can sneak up behind parked cars, drop the sign there, then fine them! yeeehaw!

Ha ha. The last parking fine I got was in Footscray when they installed video cameras above street lights and recorded people. I dropped off my grandma on the side of the road so she could walk into her local store. Though it was not a parking spot where I dropped her off, and though I was literally stopped for less than 20 seconds, I still got a $100 fine as I did not park in an official car parking spot.

 

[Republic of Moreland]

Moreland Council has stated that they will not issue infringements unless their enforcement officers sight the transgression personally. I have video footage and photos of cars parked across neighbours' and my own driveway(s). No fines in Moreland in our street without a real person from Council attending!

I thought you could drop off passengers in most places as long as you do not leave vehicle unattended by more than 3m....maybe check the Victorian Road Rules for what signs applied to your circumstances, and then I think it will tell you if you can drop off passengers legally.

 

[Smiley]

Thanks Republic of Moreland. Unsure how the Council operates? My wife just paid the bill as did her other friends who got fined.