A knight in shining armour has come to the aid of two aged pensioners stung by Maribyrnong council’s “inflexible” infringement system, stepping in to anonymously pay their parking fines.
Star Weekly last week revealed Victoria’s Ombudsman had released a report calling on the council to change its fines review process.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass compared the council with five others, finding its practices were lacking in fairness and discretion.
She called for the council to reimburse a handful of complainants who had forgotten to display their valid disabled permits and challenged their fines.
The council refused four of five requests, saying the matters were closed, spurring a Star Weekly reader to reach into his own pocket to reimburse the pensioners.
A flood of new complaints emerged as residents recounted rejections of their own pleas for consideration.
Cheryl Tucker said that when her father suddenly passed away, she took her mother to Highpoint to get clothes for the funeral.
“Her disability sticker fell on the floor and I didn’t notice,” she said. “I wrote to the council and explained the situation. They basically said, ‘Bad luck’, it’s my responsibility.”
West Footscray resident Mike Disbury said he was incorrectly issued a fine for parking his car facing the wrong way. He called the council seeking photographic evidence and they realised the car was, in fact, parking the correct way.
“I asked why the guy put the fine there and they said he was new and had already put it in his machine,” Mr Disbury said.
Yarraville resident Rocio Bustinza said she had received a fine in the mail after briefly parking in the opposite direction to traffic in front of her home.
“I was leaving the house and needed to grab my seven-month-old baby and place her in her car seat,” she said. “Our driveway blocks access to the left hand side door with a fence.”
Her review was unsuccessful so she challenged the fine in court.
“I spent countless hours there on the day of the hearing to have the matter rejected, and was fined an extra $100 of admin cost to council,” she said.
“I broke down in tears on how the system treated us on this matter.”
Elena Margarita was fined while changing her baby’s nappy on a nature strip beside her car.
“He could see me changing the baby whilst he wrote it and I actually called out to him before he pressed the button,” she said.
Kellie Danskin was fined for parking outside her home despite having a valid permit sticker on her car.
“Apparently it wasn’t visible when it clearly was,” she said. “They wouldn’t waive it. I was furious.”
Maribyrnong council chief executive Stephen Wall last week said that the Ombudsman’s report “oversimplifies and unfairly represents” council review procedures, but that the council would nevertheless retrain staff and update its internal review guidelines.
