Tradie Challenges $320 Parking Fine for Briefly Blocking His Driveway
A Newcastle tradie is fighting a hefty parking fine after parking across his own driveway while opening the gate
Newcastle, Australia, Parking Fine, Tradie, Court Case
Newcastle: An Aussie tradie is taking a stand against a $320 parking fine. He got the ticket for parking across his own driveway while he was just opening the gate to drive in.
Mark Fricker, a builder from Newcastle, was caught on camera last September. His ute was briefly stopped with two wheels in the gutter of a bus zone in front of his place.
He only found out about the fine when he got an email about ten days later. The notice claimed he was parked in a bus zone, which he thought was pretty unfair.
The fine came from the council’s fancy mobile license plate recognition tech. They’ve got cameras on council cars cruising around to catch parking offenders.
Fricker told Yahoo News that if a ranger had been there, they wouldn’t have issued the fine. He tried to sort it out with the council, but they just passed him off to Revenue NSW. So now, he feels he has no choice but to fight it in court.
He said, “If it had been a person and not a car, they wouldn’t have issued the fine.” He believes the automated system isn’t right. If a ranger had seen him park, get out, and open the gate, they wouldn’t have cared.
Fricker argues that he wasn’t really in the bus zone. He had to leave two wheels in the gutter while he opened the gate to avoid blocking the footpath.
A spokesperson from the City of Newcastle said that NSW Police will represent them in court next month but didn’t want to comment further since it’s a legal matter.
This isn’t just a one-off case. There’s been a lot of chatter about these ticketless parking fines across NSW. In fact, there was a 49% jump in these fines during the last financial year, raking in $158 million for councils.
With over 40 councils switching to this system, many drivers are upset they can’t contest fines until days later when they finally find out about them.
NSW Finance Minister Courtney Houssos is calling for a stop to the ticketless system. She believes councils need to provide a “common-sense fix” or the government will step in.
Fricker gets where the council is coming from but doesn’t agree with the automated approach. He thinks it’s easy for them to just collect money without dealing with people directly.
“As a ratepayer, I believe the council should be educating us, not just handing out fines,” he said.