- Adelaide councillor pushes to change 'silly' parking fine policy
- 15/12/2014 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: Brucey_rox ( 1 article in 2014 )
An Adelaide City councillor is pushing for a 10 to 15 minute leeway before motorists are issued a fine for an expired parking ticket.
Anne Moran said Christmas shoppers were being discouraged from shopping in the city because the council's parking fine policy was too strict.
It followed the release of Freedom of Information documents secured by Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire that found parking inspectors had secured $13.4 million in parking-related fines over the past 12 months.
This included $443,460 from people whose parking ticket had expired by less than 10 minutes.
"If you're a first-time mum bringing your kids in to see Santa and you get back to your car three minutes late and you have a $48 fine, I don't think you're going to bother to come again and that's really detrimental to the city," Cr Moran said.
"It's silly of the council to be that strict."
Mr Brokenshire agreed that the council's parking inspectors needed to allow for a margin of error.
He said there were 243,477 parking-related fines issued in 12 months, including 9,866 fines issued to those people who had allowed their parking ticket to expire by less than 10 minutes.
"If there's no leeway by the city council then people who get hit with a $30 or $40 fine for being five to 10 minutes [late] will simply go to the metropolitan suburbs," Mr Brokenshire said.
"The council needs to decide if it prefers to add millions of dollars to its coffers each year or whether it wants people to come into the city and enjoy the transformation that is taking place."
Adelaide City Mayor Martin Haese said the new term council would look into the strict enforcement of parking fines when it met next year.
"Car parking is that delicate balance ensuring that the parks are turning over so that there are more people able to come into the city, but possibly not being so strict that we are turning people away," he said.
However councillor Moran said she would use tomorrow's council meeting to move for the change.
Anne Moran said Christmas shoppers were being discouraged from shopping in the city because the council's parking fine policy was too strict.
It followed the release of Freedom of Information documents secured by Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire that found parking inspectors had secured $13.4 million in parking-related fines over the past 12 months.
This included $443,460 from people whose parking ticket had expired by less than 10 minutes.
"If you're a first-time mum bringing your kids in to see Santa and you get back to your car three minutes late and you have a $48 fine, I don't think you're going to bother to come again and that's really detrimental to the city," Cr Moran said.
"It's silly of the council to be that strict."
Mr Brokenshire agreed that the council's parking inspectors needed to allow for a margin of error.
He said there were 243,477 parking-related fines issued in 12 months, including 9,866 fines issued to those people who had allowed their parking ticket to expire by less than 10 minutes.
"If there's no leeway by the city council then people who get hit with a $30 or $40 fine for being five to 10 minutes [late] will simply go to the metropolitan suburbs," Mr Brokenshire said.
"The council needs to decide if it prefers to add millions of dollars to its coffers each year or whether it wants people to come into the city and enjoy the transformation that is taking place."
Adelaide City Mayor Martin Haese said the new term council would look into the strict enforcement of parking fines when it met next year.
"Car parking is that delicate balance ensuring that the parks are turning over so that there are more people able to come into the city, but possibly not being so strict that we are turning people away," he said.
However councillor Moran said she would use tomorrow's council meeting to move for the change.
Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/adelaide-council-under-fire-over-strict-parking-fine-policy/5967092
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