Melbourne drivers are being hit with parking fines despite not doing anything wrong.
9News has spoken to multiple people who have been able to decisively prove they are innocent, raising questions about the legitimacy of infringement notices and the motivations of parking inspectors.
Emma Hodgkinson from Essendon was fined for supposedly overstaying in a two-hour zone.
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“I was furious, it’s just not OK” she told 9News.
Hodgkinson is angry because she had only left her house 40 minutes before the time stamp on the fine.
Fortunately, she had CCTV from her home to back that up.
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“When I saw the timecode on the footage and I compared it to the time on the ticket I realised I hadn’t done anything wrong and it was their mistake,” she said.
Many other drivers have had similar experiences.
Earlier this month in Richmond, a man received a $99 penalty despite having close to an hour remaining on his Pay Stay app.
Another driver was fined by Stonnington Council for parking longer than two hours even though he’d only been there for about 20 minutes.
In most of these examples, including Hodgkinson’s, many other cars in the area had also been fined.
“I was able to prove I was innocent but how are [the other drivers] going to be able to prove that?” she said.
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Dean Hurlston from Council Watch says the reason innocent drivers are being fined is because council parking inspectors have to hit quotas.
“We know the job of a parking inspector is well paid for good reason,” he told 9News.
“They definitely have quotas. Councils need money, they’re cash strapped. This is a way to gouge and raise revenue.”
The onus is always on the driver to prove their innocence and it’s not often appeals are granted.
If you’ve been unfairly fined, it’s important to collect as much evidence as possible from the time of the penalty, including photos and screenshots.
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